Fall for you
by Mrs. Briefs
Summary: She had hated the mere thought of him her entire life. Hated the fact that she would have to marry him someday. But what she hated the absolute most, was that after meeting him she just couldn't stay away. GrimmjowxOC and some Ulquihime in future chapters. A/U
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I've been mulling over the idea for this story for quite a while now, and I finally took the time to sit down and write it. I know OC's aren't exactly everybody's cup of tea, but I think it was necessary for me to create one in this story's case. Anyway, enough of my ranting, here is the first chapter to this story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot and OC, everything else belongs to our dearly beloved Tite Kubo.

* * *

I've often heard people say that love knows no boundaries; as long as it's there it will find a way. In my case however, true love was something I would never be able to experience.

My entire life, I had been surrounded by people that had gotten a say in whom they got to love; I was the only one that was different. No matter how much I tried to reject the fact that I had never and would never receive such a privilege, the constant every day reminder that the person I was to marry had been decided on before I had even been born always came back to bring me bitterness.

I had been given the misfortune of being born to a family of great prestige and power in Japan; the Nakamura family. My mother and father, in the interests if insuring our family's rich and powerful influence, had agreed to marry me off to the son of another important family. Sosuke Aizen, the head of that family, was a good friend of my father's, and had agreed that both parties would benefit greatly from the union of their two only children.

These facts invaded my thoughts as I rigidly stood in an empty corner of my room and watched as two servants carefully packed every article of clothing that remained in my closet. I had offered to assist them, but as usual, they had firmly rejected any kind of help from me and ordered me to instead have some rest before I left the manor for my long trip in the morning. However, I knew that attempting to get any rest would be impossible because once morning came I would have to leave my home in order to live with my soon-to-be husband's family in Karakura town.

This was all some ploy to help us get to know each other, but I knew that as soon as I left I wouldn't be coming back. And it sickened me. Love was supposed to be something beautiful that was built up over time, not a sixteen-year-old girl being forced to live with and marry some rich jerk she had never met before in her life.

His name was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the notoriously handsome son of Sosuke Aizen. Everything I knew about him came from my parents or our servants, but I wasn't sure how much of what they said was actually accurate. It probably would have been easy for me to look up his name and face on the internet, given that his family was the owner of several prosperous companies, but I'd never allowed myself to. That, was one thing at least, that I did have a choice on.

The truth was, at that moment in time, I was so terrified that the only thing I could do was stand there, completely frozen, and stare into nothing. I had known this day was coming since I had first been able to comprehend the meaning of words, yet somehow all those years hadn't been enough to prepare me for the harsh reality that had caught up with me that night.

"Ah, good evening Nakamura-san, everything has been prepared according to your orders," Akiko, one of the maids that was putting away my clothes suddenly said, bowing her head slightly in respect. I turned my head to find my mother standing in the doorway to my room, her stern gaze fixed upon my face.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Minori?" she asked, her voice as cold and calculating as ever. She had never made the effort to get close to me, using the excuse that she was too busy as the lady of the family to have time for immature children, and had instead left the job of raising me to her trusted maid, Ayame.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied flatly, not in the mood to have a full conversation with anybody at the moment, especially not one of the people that was responsible for my misery.

Her finely plucked eyebrows twitched downwards along with her mouth at my less-than-proper response, but she said nothing else for a while, instead choosing to inspect every inch of me while nodding her head in approval at different points during her examination. "Perfect. I'm sure you'll make a great first impression tomorrow," she said after she was finished, her voice somewhat breaking a little on "tomorrow". We stood silently after that, avoiding each other's gaze for some reason.

"You have my hair, you know," she finally said, lightly smoothing her hand over my honey-brown strands with an almost sad look settling in her features. It was rare for her to show any emotions around me, and watching her eyes begin to fill with tears somehow forced me out of my stupor and obligated me to focus on the present.

"Why are you.. crying?" I asked softly, not quite sure what to do since I had never seen my mother cry. I wrapped my arms around her in an embrace and patted her back in an effort to mollify her, my method proving itself effective as she quickly detached herself from me and end wiped her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't really expected that myself either. And, even though I have never really been there for you, I am still your mother, and it saddens me to have to give up my only daughter so quickly. I really came here to say my goodbye's since I won't be able to see you off tomorrow because of an urgent business matter that just came up, and it cannot wait. "

"You're leaving now? I had hoped that tomorrow..."

"I am truly sorry Minori, I hope you can understand. But leave tomorrow knowing that your father and I love you, and you will be treated well in Aizen-san's household, I promise. I truly wish for your happiness." She gave me a curt bow and an awkward wave before quickly turning on her heel and walking briskly down the hall, her light footsteps slowly fading away until they were no longer audible.

"Farewell," I whispered so quietly that only I was able to hear, a single tear escaping from my eyes and falling onto the velvet rug beneath my slipper-clad feet. A part of me felt delighted that my mother actually cared about or acknowledged me, but another darker part couldn't help but feel resentment towards her because she and my father had been the root core to my sorrows ever since I was a little girl.

I slowly drew out a breath, my shoulders slumping down with exhaustion. All this stressing had become quite the arduous task; I hadn't eaten a single crumb all day, and it started becoming impossible to ignore the loud rumbling in my stomach.

I looked around my room to see if I had any food lying around, but it was hard to find any because the servants were always keeping it so clean. The walls were a soft blue, and the rest of my room was pretty much only my plush queen-sized bed, a large walk-in closet, and a desk holding my laptop and a few other things. I may have been rich, but I had never been one of extravagant taste, and I preferred to keep my room as simple as my mother would allow.

There was still no food in sight, so I walked down the hall into the second kitchen, digging through the refrigerator for a snack. I smiled to myself when I finally found a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, my favorite. Mother always scolded me for eating it because she said it would turn me fat, but I always just ignored her and went on eating.

I finished the piece of cake, and the rest of the evening flew by swiftly; before I knew it I was lying in my bed completely awake, worrying over what was to come. Even though I completely detested the idea of our arranged marriage, I spent most of the night wondering what kind of person Grimmjow was. Was he kind? Responsible? Smart? Arrogant? How did he feel about us? Did he feel the same way that I did? All these questions and many more swam around in my head endlessly, and I had the answer to none of them, which was beginning to frustrate me in unimaginable ways.

"Will I ever be able to love you for real?" I asked the wind, pulling my covers tightly over my body and sighing dejectedly.

* * *

(Earlier in the day, Grimmjow's POV)

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing Grimmjow?" the voice of an orange haired teenager yelled angrily, becoming louder as its owner strode quickly over to where I was standing with my hands jammed in my pockets, a bored expression on my face.

"What the fuck do you want Kurosaki? I already told you I won this from a fair bet against that four-eyed loser you call a friend," I said, holding up a silver bracelet with a single cross-shaped charm attached to the end, smiling in amusement as his already angry face turned furious.

"You lying shit, you stole that from Ishida's locker while he was showering in the gym locker room!" he accused, closing the gap between us with one final stride and fisting my shirt with a menacing growl.

"You wanna do this right now Kurosaki?" I spat, quickly losing my temper and roughly shoving his arm off my chest.

"Bring it on you asshole!" Ichigo retaliated, standing his ground and already preparing to take a swing at me.

"W-Wait hold on! You two can't keep on fighting each other, this has to stop!" the soft voice of the girl with the big boobs that was always following Kurosaki around cried as she stepped in between us out of nowhere, stopping Ichigo dead in his tracks.

"Inoue is right, you have to calm down Ichigo," the guy named Sado followed quickly, supporting the girl's desperate plea. Ichigo stared at them for a second before turning to face me, his glare filled with absolute hatred.

"Give me back Ishida's bracelet and let's forget about this," he demanded, thrusting out his hand and leaving it front of me so I could drop the bracelet on there and leave. But there was no way in hell I was about to back down from his earlier challenge, and if he thought otherwise then the coward had something else coming.

Just as I was about to taunt him and refuse his request, a pale hand snatched the thing out of my hand and placed it on Kurosaki's, effectively pissing me off. "What the fu-"

"Didn't I tell you that these pointless quarrels between the both of you get old really fast, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra inquired in his usual detached tone, a tired look in his green eyes as he came into view.

"Seriously though Grim, doesn't it get boring always fighting with the same guy?" another person asked, appearing on the opposite side of Ulquiorra.

"The fuck's it to you Yammy?" I snapped, glaring at his freakishly large and muscular figure. I swear. These shits I called my friends were always coming between me and a good fight whenever the opportunity presented itself like they were in charge of me or something. They always said it was because I needed to keep my reputation in check since my family was one of high importance and rank, but that didn't matter to me. Sure, I loved being able to buy whatever the hell I wanted to and the fact that girls fell all over me wherever I went, but I had never been interested in keeping the family business once my father died.

At that moment Ishida came running down the hallway, and once he saw that Ichigo had successfully retrieved his precious bracelet from me, a relieved look immediately replaced the stressed expression on his face. "I'm glad no violence broke out between you guys. Thanks for returning this, Grimmjow," he said, nodding at me before reaching his group of friends.

"Tch," I muttered, turning sharply and beckoning for Ulquiorra and Yammy to follow me, deciding that I'd had enough shit for one day. The truth was, Kurosaki wasn't the reason for my aggravation, at least, not really. Tomorrow was _that_ day, and the pressure was definitely doing bad things to my head. All day at school I hadn't been able to concentrate, in fact, before the conflict with Kurosaki, I hadn't even been able to maintain a short conversation with anyone.

Naturally I had taken my frustration out on Kurosaki and his friends, given that both of our groups mutually hated each other. Mostly though, the hate came from Kurosaki and I, who'd had problems with each other since the first day we'd met.

However, after going through all the trouble of stealing Ishida's bracelet in order to piss the carrot-top off, I still hadn't been able to get rid of the strange pounding in my chest. In fact, I think that the only thing I had succeeded in was making things worse for myself.

Apparently Ulquiorra had taken notice of this, because as soon as the bell rung at the end of school he took me aside to a grove of cherry-blossom trees shrouded behind a building and began questioning me. "What's going on with you Grimmjow? Don't think I haven't noticed your strangeness today, it was so obvious even that stupid ape Yammy asked me about it," he said, standing in front of me with a look in his eyes that told me they wanted the truth.

I debated on whether I should tell him (he was my best friend after all), but I guess the burden I was carrying was just too much for me to handle because I simply glared at him and said, "Nothing. You should mind your own business and stop poking your ass into issues that don't concern you." I felt my voice rise at the last part, and I turned away quickly to hide my slightly panicked expression, brushing away a drop of sweat that had formed at the base of my forehead.

The pressure I was under was beginning to take its toll on my body, which was a sign that I was definitely on edge. Every day of my life, that _name_ had been repeated to me as a daily reminder of my fate. Hearing it had only every brought me nervousness and anger. Aizen, my father, had made it his personal mission to drill pressure into me about what I was to do when the owner of the _name_ came into my life. He had made it clear that my loyalty to her was to be unconditional, and if he ever found out otherwise I would surely be punished. Coming from him, I definitely did not want to know what sort of punishment he had in mind, because once provoked, Aizen could go from seemingly tranquil to murderous in one second.

There was only one problem: I didn't think I would be able to keep that promise. First of all, women definitely don't make it easy for me when they're always practically _begging_ for me to fuck them, and I happen to have many sexual needs. Besides, they're all the same, wanting sex immediately after meeting a guy with an attractive face. Even those that deny it, have revealed to me their true nature once I take them home for the night. So who was I to think that _she_'_d_ be any different? It's always the same story with high school girls, and even though I enjoyed the feeling of sex just as much as the next guy, every time I woke up in the morning lying naked beside some girl who's name I had already forgotten, I felt _wrong_, like I was letting somebody down just by looking at her.

The point is, it was already too late for me, I had already slept with so many women I had lost count a while back. Even if I somehow miraculously was able to remain loyal to _her_ for the rest of my life, my sins had already been committed, and I would have to tell her eventually.

"Grim, is this about _Minori_?" My head snapped up at the sound of that _name_, my heartbeat picking up so quickly I thought I may have been experiencing a heart attack for a brief moment.

The wind picked up and blew pink cherry blossom petals all around us before I could summon my voice again. "I thought I told you never to mention anything about that subject again, Ulquiorra," I managed to mutter, trying hard to mask the panic that had begun to build up in my throat. Not that it would help, though. Ulquiorra had been able to read me (and everyone else in our group) like an open book ever since he had spent the last summer volunteering with Orihime Inoue; which had really freaked me out at first because before that he'd had a hard time distinguishing the difference between 'sad' and 'happy'.

"I knew it. It's tomorrow isn't it? The day when you'll finally get to see your predetermined wife?" His gaze turned somewhat understanding, and he let out a big sigh while he ran his fingers through his jet-black hair. "Well, nobody said it would be easy. I can't blame you for feeling anxious, what with all the time that you've had to wait for this day. This may not help, but I feel it necessary to remind you that I'm always here for you, Grimmjow, even when you think I'm not."

"Will you shut up with that crap already? I know, okay. I just, it's indescribable, the way I feel, ya know? This girl, she's the real deal for me whether I chose to be in denial about it or not. But you know what the worst part of all this shit is? I have never -ever- felt any kind of anxiety towards a girl, but with her, with _her_, my palms begin to get sweaty just thinking about her, and my heart begins to pound along with the pain in my head. I become completely dysfunctional and all I know about her is her damn _name_! What the hell am I supposed to do when I actually meet her, Ulquiorra?"

He stared at me quietly throughout my entire spiel, and remained silent for a while after before saying, "Have you ever wondered about how she feels about all of this? Has it ever even occurred to you that there was a slight possibility that maybe-just maybe- she doesn't agree with this arrangement either? That you could confide in each other knowing that the only ones who could truly understand what you are each going through is each other?"

Then he did something unexpected; he punched me straight in the jaw, and I could do nothing but stumble backwards into a tree trunk and touch my face with a stunned expression. "I want you to go home and think about that Grimmjow. Maybe then you'll stop looking so pathetic," he said, clearly disgusted. I watched as his figure slowly disappeared onto the street, a cold breeze brushing my turquoise hair against my forehead, the sun already beginning to dip beneath the horizon.

All I could think about was what Ulquiorra had said to me as I walked to my parked blue Ferrari, and once inside, I sat there silently for over half an hour before finally jamming the keys into the ignition and stomping on the gas pedal, gunning down the street in an attempt to free my mind if even for just a little. This wasn't like me at all, and I decided that I was done worrying about all the shit in my life.

I arrived at the mansion in under five minutes, slamming the door upon entering, completely ignoring the greeting given to me by my butler, Haschwald.

I had just stepped foot on the stairs when a chilling voice called out behind me, "I sincerely hope you didn't just come from some other woman's home again, Grimmjow. You know what I'm expecting from you, and I'm sure that you do not want to find out what sort if punishments I have in mind for you in case you don't follow my exact orders. If what I said earlier was indeed the case, then you should now that that will be the last time you ever do something like that. Minori will arrive here tomorrow morning, and she is to be the only woman you ever touch again. Have I made myself clear?" Aizen's eyes were less than comforting as he waited for my response a little ways off from the stairs, a large stack of files resting in his hands.

"Since the first day you explained it to me, _father_," I answered, making sure to add emphasis on the word "father" to make sure he noticed my sarcasm. I almost never addressed him as father, and when I did, I was either in a very good mood, or I was extremely pissed off. In this specific situation though, it was the latter that was true, and I wanted nothing more than to rush up the stairs and get him out of my sight.

He opened his mouth to add something else, but at that moment his personal assistant, Hinamori, came bursting through the door with what seemed to be another file clutched in between both of her dainty hands. "O-Oh, I'm so sorry Aizen-sama, I didn't realize you were busy..." Her expression turning frantic, she hurriedly bowed and made to scamper out of the room, but Aizen stopped her with a slight shake of his head. With one final stern glance in my direction, he instead took the file from her hand and guided her in the direction of his office.

"You have no idea how much I despise you," I growled underneath my breath, pounding my hand into the wooden railing so hard that it made a dent in the shape of my fist. I looked at it for a bit before tearing up the stairs and slamming the door behind me with a loud bang.

"I really hope what Ulquiorra said was true, because at this point I don't know what the hell to think anymore," I whispered, slipping my hand off of the doorknob and sliding down against my door, spending the entire night in that crouched position, falling asleep for short periods of time before waking up again repeatedly.

* * *

(Minori's POV, the next morning)

The house was a frantic mess as servants ran back and forth trying to get everything in order before I left, and it was only four'o'clock in the morning. I was already fully dressed in Karakura High School's school uniform, my hair in a braid with loose stands falling on either side of my head. I was supposed to arrive in time to make it to my first day at Karakura High, despite the three-hour trip I had to make in order to get there.

I had an embarrassing habit of twiddling my fingers when I was really nervous, and I couldn't stop myself from doing it as I sat in one of the living rooms waiting for everything to get ready. I hadn't really thought about it before the incident with my mother the night before, but I really would miss my parents and all the servants I had grown up with. Sure, maybe my parents weren't very good at taking care of me, and maybe they had practically forced me into marrying a man I didn't know, but I would still miss them.

"Minori-san, everything has been loaded into the car and the chauffeur has arrived, it is time for you to go now." Akiko smiled at me, linking her arm with mine and accompanying me as I walked outside in a bit of a daze. I was finally leaving. I was finally going to meet _him_.

Akiko saw me off with the rest of my family's servants, and even though I really appreciated it, I couldn't help but wish it was my mother and father that were saying goodbye. I waved back in spite of myself, staring back at the mansion through the car window until it was no longer visible.

The entire car ride was completely unbearable, my fingers eventually becoming stiff with how much I was twiddling them. It felt like somebody had thrust a million knives in my heart, and I had a hard time breathing properly. If only I could change things; if only I could've been born as a different person. Who would I have fallen in love with, had not my fate already been chosen for me?

But for all my wishful thinking, I couldn't stop the fact that we were already entering the gates of Aizen-san's estate, and when I was told to exit the car I couldn't help stumbling clumsily into the arms of Aizen himself.

"I-I'm terribly sorry Aizen-san! I lost my balance and-"

"It's quite alright, Minori. I get that you are nervous. Please, allow me to escort you inside," he said with a smile so gentle and comforting I forgot where I was and what I was doing for a second. I quickly recovered though, and smiled back at him as best I could, admiring his warm brown eyes. Somehow there was something in them that had me feeling reassured, and I knew immediately that I trusted him.

"My son is waiting inside. He wanted to come see you with me, but I wanted to give you a little more time to breathe before you met each other; I also wanted to have a brief word with you," he added the last part with more seriousness, his expression darkening somehow.

"Of course, what is it you wanted to discuss with me Aizen-san?" I said while unconsciously playing with a loose strand of my hair. The sun had already begun to bathe the sky in soft orange light, and by the way the birds were singing, I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day.

"My son doesn't exactly posses the manners or social skills of a gentleman, so please excuse any rude thing he might say that is out of line or inappropriate. And, there is also another thing. If Grimmjow ever does anything to hurt you, whether it be physically or emotionally, please come talk to me. I will make sure he pays for it dearly, and you can trust me with anything." He stroked my bangs out of my eyes as he finished, looking me right in the eyes. It was only then that I noticed we were already standing outside the front door of his house, and we were about to step inside.

I didn't really know what Aizen meant about the possibility of Grimmjow hurting me, but I did know that I trusted him, even if a nagging little voice in my head told me it was too early for me to be thinking that. So I gave him the best smile I could muster out of my current condition and said, "You don't have to worry, I'll tell you if anything like that happens."

He seemed a bit taken aback at first, but his smile quickly returned and he nodded appretiatively. "That's a relief, thank you."

With those final words he turned the solid gold doorknob and opened the door to his mansion, stepping inside first and holding the door open for me as I followed suit.

The first thing I saw as I stepped inside was a head full of turquoise hair and eyes bluer than the sky itself.

* * *

So, how was it for a 1st chapter? I think we got to see more of Grimmjow than Minori, but I promise there'll be plenty more of her in upcoming chapters (she is the main character after all). I also forgot to mention earlier that I would be switching between POV's a lot in this chapter, and it will probably continue in the ensuing ones until each chapter starts getting into only one person's (mostly Minori's). I have to admit I had the most fun writing Grimmjow's part, and I don't know if anybody caught it while they were reading, but I decided to make Haschwald (Haschwalt, Haswaldt?) Aizen's butler because I thought it'd be funny at the time.. lol. Anyway, there will be plenty more character appearances from Bleach in the upcoming chapters, and as far as I know Minori will be the only OC (I personally hate it when there are too many OC's). Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well it's almost the end of Spring Break for me, and of course I've put off writing this chapter until now (why was I born with this need to procrastinate?). I know I was evil last chapter and decided to end with a cliffhanger, but that's just how I personally like to end things ;), so get ready for more of those.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, as clarified when I tried telling Tite Kubo otherwise.

* * *

He was beautiful.

That was the first thought that ran through my head while I gazed at my destined husband, who was also taking his time to examine my face with wide eyes. However uncomfortable that made me though, I couldn't blame him for staring. I was doing the same thing, and after waiting so long to see him I couldn't help myself.

His turquoise hair was styled back, a few strands falling into his electric blue eyes, adding emphasis to his handsome face. Everything I had been told about his looks was true; maybe even a bit downplayed. Somehow I hadn't imagined he would be this good looking, a thought that seemed completely absurd now.

He was also already clad in his school uniform, the white button-up shirt fitting somewhat tightly around his abdominal area. Some of the buttons at the top of the shirt were left unfastened, leaving a part of his chest exposed. Seeing that made my stomach flutter a little, and I didn't like the almost satisfied feeling I was getting after having ascertained thaybhe was indeed vet good-looking.

I parted my lips and was about to mumble out some kind of greeting but he beat me to it, smiling a bit as he spoke. "Good morning Minori-san, you must be tired from the long trip. Please sit down and make yourself comfortable." There was something that sounded strained and monotonous about his voice, like it was a line he had been practicing in his head for a while but couldn't quite say it with much conviction. I knew by just looking at him that being polite wasn't something he was used to.

"O-Ok, thank you," I nodded, cringing a little as I heard my obvious stutter and taking a seat on a plush wine-colored loveseat. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Even when I was nervous I had hardly ever stuttered in all my life. My emotions were deeply disturbing me, and the part of me that was disturbed wanted to slap me across the face because I shouldn't have even cared about what Grimmjow thought of me in the first place. I had to remind myself that I hated him no matter how much he tried being nice to me, and that looks didn't matter to me.

But it was very hard to listen to my brain when he sat directly across from me and smiled again, this time revealing pearly-white teeth and sharp canines. "School doesn't start for another hour, so I guess you'll just have to bear with my presence for now," he said conversationally, and again I got the feeling that this was something he had practiced saying before. Despite my anxious condition, his actions were actually kind off starting to piss me off a little. I was sure that at some point in time I had been told exactly what to say when this day arrived, but all of that had flown out the window the second I had stepped out of the car. Besides, I hated that I was the only person in the room that appeared nervous. Was everything I had been obsessively stressing over for the last week just all in my head? Was I the only one that had feared our first meeting?

The universe seemed intent on throwing me off however because at that very moment Aizen walked over and sat next to me on the couch; Grimmjow's eyes immediately darkening. He was still smiling pleasantly but I could tell it was a forced effort. I couldn't help wonder why Aizen had caused such a reaction from him. From what I had gathered Aizen was a rather gentle person; I would think that he and Grimmjow got along well.

The atmosphere turned a little heavy after that and all we were able to manage was awkward small talk and some strained moments of silence.

"So, do you have many friends here in Karakura Town?" I asked, not really wanting to know but having nothing else in mind.

Something resembling a smirk flickered across his features for the smallest of seconds before it was gone, replaced instead by that forced half-smile that was really beginning to get on my nerves. "You could say that, although there's always those select few people that hate you no matter what you do," he responded, shrugging like it didn't really bother him.

"Yeah, well I guess I know what you mean," I said, now playing with the small diamond pendant at the end of my necklace; another habit that I had developed over the years since by father had given it to me. To be honest it was a bit unnerving to try and have a conversation with Grimmjow while Aizen sat watching is intently.

A small beep came from the pocket of Grimmjow's uniform pants, causing him to excuse himself as he took out his cell phone. He took about two seconds to skim through what I presumed was a text message and stood up abruptly, shoving the device back into his pocket and directing his gaze back at me.

"That was my friend, he says he wants us to meet up with him at school," he said, a bit of annoyance in his voice. "We don't have to leave right now if you don't want to." He looked like he was about to add something else, but then he decided against it and offered me his hand instead.

I looked at it for a bit before finally taking the hint and allowing him to help me up. "Yes, it's fine if we go now. To tell you the truth I'm a bit anxious to see the school." It wasn't a complete lie. I did want to see the school, but for some reason the part about meeting his friend bothered me. I know I was supposed to be happy that we would get almost no alone time today, but it still annoyed me that he seemed to make no effort to change that.

I bowed at Aizen and said goodbye, grabbing my designer school bag on the way to the door. We stepped outside into the warm late summer air and he led me to a blue sports car. I think it was a Ferrari, but my knowledge of cars was really quite pathetic, so I wasn't sure.

I went to the passenger door and stood off to one side, thinking he was going to open it for me. Surprisingly though he walked straight past me to the drivers seat and sat inside, raising his eyebrow at me when he noticed I still hadn't sat down. I blinked in confusion and opened the door myself, placing my black bag on my lap and fastening the seatbealt in one jerky movement.

What was up with this guy? One moment he was acting all gallant and the next he was practically ignoring my presence! I knew that Aizen must have told him something before my arrival about behaving especially polite with me, but now I really wasn't sure just how much of his true personality Grimmjow was suppressing. It was enough to remind me that I had never even wanted to meet him in the first place and despite his good looks I would never be able to love him.

"Thanks for opening the door for me, I totally didn't feel like an idiot right now," I muttered sarcastically, my lips settling into a straight line as I pressed them together. I regretted saying that the second I finished my sentence; some vague voice in the back of my mind telling me I shouldn't be acting that way. He could be rude all he wanted, but I shouldn't let it get to me and influence the way I spoke. After all, I would never be able to get out of this stupid marriage contract, so all I was left with was to try my best to keep our relationship on good terms.

For the second time in that minute he surprised me again by laughing bitterly, shoving the key into the ignition, the wheels making an unpleasant screeching noise as they were forced forward with relative speed. "Sorry to disappoint you princess, but that's not exactly my style. The only reason I acted differently before was because Aizen promised to fuck me up if I didn't. It was actually pretty cruel of him to to get your hopes up like that, I'm not some gentlemanly prick that treats anyone that way." He said all of this without looking at me, keeping his eyes on the road instead, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned bone-white.

I stared at him, completely taken aback by his reaction and even flinching a little at his harsh words. If I had been mad before, I became livid with anger. How dare he say something like that to me? Who the helll did he think he was? "Who the hell do you think you're talking to '_princess_' ?" Don't think I was so stupid that I didn't notice you were acting back at the house. I could see it in your eyes, your actions didn't match your true feelings; but I would've never thought that you actually turned out to be such a jerk!" I hadn't noticed we had already pulled up to the school's entrance until and old man dressed in a uniform waved at us from outside, rushing to my side to open the door.

"Go park it somewhere over there," Grimmjow said as he got up from the car, pointing at a random area of the parking lot and tossing him the keys. I stood with my arms crossed and waited for him to walk next to me, his face seeming amused.

"Ooh, well would you look at that, we've got ourselves a girl with some fire in her. Seems to me like you'd do a good job of entertaining me in bed," he smirked, snaking his hand down the side of my stomach to my hips.

"Ugh!" I cried out in disgust, roughly shoving his hand from my waist and pushing away from him. I couldn't stand to be in his presence for a moment longer and quickly stormed off into a random hallway, my only objective to get as far away from him as possible. Not only was he a dick, he was fucking pervert too, and a couple of bystanders gave us strange looks as he laughed loudly and told me so come back. I resisted the urge to flip him off and rushed inside a bathroom, breathing in relief when I realized it was empty.

I stopped in front of a mirror and slammed my bag down onto the area next to the sink, my arms tightly gripping the edges as I stared at the reflection of my face. All my fears about Grimmjow were quickly coming true and then some; my head lurching with a feeling I didn't recognize. I had know he wouldn't be perfect. I had been careful to keep my hopes about him at a realistic level. I thought I had prepared myself for the massive disappointment that was washing over me at that moment. But despite all my efforts I had still failed in the end because all of my pent up emotions from the past week simultaneously began to pour out, and I simply lacked the strength to hold back the ensuing tears.

* * *

I watched Minori's braid fly behind her as she sped off, trying not to notice the way it shone underneath the sun's rays and then glinted off out of sight as she stormed into a hallway.

I knew I had taken it too far, but I couldn't allow myself to care. I had already come to terms with the way things were, and I wasn't about to let emotions interfere with my way of thinking.

During our little scene however, I hadn't noticed that a certain somebody had watched the whole thing unfold before him and was now making his way over to me.

I barely had time to register that Ulqiorra was the person that had roughly shoved me against a random set of lockers the second I stepped foot inside school and was now pressing his forearm against my diaphragm. "I can't.. fucking breathe.. you.. asshole!" I managed to choke out, attempting to pry Ulquiorra's arm away from me but failing miserably. Nobody came to help me either and instead picked up their pace whenever anyone passed by us, so I could do little else but wait until Uqluiorra decided he'd sated his fucking sadistic need to watch me suffer and remove his arm from my body.

When he finally did I was about throw a bewildered punch at his face but his words stopped me dead in my tracks. "Grimmjow, you have three seconds to tell me what the hell all of that was about before I decide you're more worth to me unconscious. You can't lie to me either; I know that girl you just sent crying to the bathroom was Minori, there's no mistaking it."

I glowered at him and clenched my fists, trying my best to hold back my anger. He was worse than a fucking schoolgirl with nothing better to do than walk around and snoop into other people's business. If I didn't know better I would've completely ignored his command and swung at him anyway, but as much as I hated to admit it the fucking cunt was stronger than me and he wouldn't hesitate to keep his promise. "I was just being myself. It's not my fault she started bitching about my attitude the second she got into my car," I scowled, shoving my hands into the front pockets of my uniform pants and turning my head to the side.

He studied my face with suspicious eyes and frowned. It looked like a part of him believed me but there was still something bothering him, which in turn was bothering me. Wasn't it enough that I had told him even that? He should've known that I had never been the type of person that enjoyed conveying my every thought and feeling to the world. Maybe I wasn't being completely honest with him, but that didn't matter. He didn't need to know. Best I keep that kind of shit to myself.

"I don't think anything could justify how you made that girl feel right know; not to mention I'm sure she didn't appreciate the inappropriate way you were just touching her. I know that's the vulgar way you act with most women, but this is Minori we're talking about. Just last night you were so troubled about her ensuing arrival that you jumped at every small sound you heard. What in the world happened to that guy, ne Grimmjow?"

He was starting to freak me out again with his sudden touchy-feely attitude, but more importantly, I didn't plan on telling him anything. What I had decided on last night was none of his business. He could go fuck himself for all I cared.

"What the hell are you, my mother or something? Stop concerning yourself about me and just leave me the fuck alone, alright?" I said, making to walk past him as the warning bell rang for first period. I was a little surprised when he didn't make any move to stop me. All he did was look at me with a slightly perplexed expression and a bit of disappointment in his bright green eyes.

* * *

I had just finished wiping the tears from my eyes when a pair of girls walked into the bathroom. I cursed quietly underneath my breath when my eyes darted back to the mirror only to find that they had become blotchy and red.

"No really! I wasn't sure whether I wanted to put either wasabi or soy sauce onto my pancakes, so I decided to put both of them on and it turned out to be really yummy-" A girl with long orange hair and a face so pretty it could make any girl jealous had been talking before she suddenly stopped; taking one look at my tear-streaked cheeks and immediately rushing over to me with a look of genuine concern on her face.

She took me by complete surprise when she immediately locked me in a vice-tight hug and said, "What's wrong? How come you've been crying? Don't worry, everything will be all right, just tell me what happened!"

I stood there as rigid and unmoving as a statue for a moment, my brain having a hard time recovering from the shock of being hugged so suddenly. Luckily the other girl that had walked in with her apologized before I had to say anything. "I-Im so sorry about Orihime-chan, she just doesn't know how to control herself sometimes. Please don't hold that against her." Her black eyes pleaded with me as she spoke, a sweat drop falling down her forehead.

She was much smaller than the girl whose name I guessed was Orihime, and her hair was a dark black in contrast to Orihime's lighter hair. "There's no need to apologize, she was just trying to make me feel better," I mumbled against the girl's ample chest that was currently suffocating me.

She finally seemed to notice we were talking about her after the other girl thanked me, and she quickly let go when I gestured at my throat in an attempt to let her know I could no longer breathe. "Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't know I was hugging you that hard I guess I don't know my own strength maybe-"

"That's enough Orihime! I think you're scaring her even more than you already did," the other girl intervened, grabbing her arm so as to prevent her from launching another surprise attack on me.

"Sorry Rukia-chan! And I really am sorry... um, I didn't really catch your name?" Orihime said with wide, innocent eyes, bringing her arms up to her chest and clasping her fingers together.

"My name is Minori Nakamura," I said, smiling even though I was still a bit unsettled. I had never met someone so bubbly and innocent in all my life; most definitely not beautiful girls like her with such killer bodies.

"Ah, Minori-chan, what a cute name! Is it okay with you if I call you by your first name? I just feel like we're already friends and you seem so nice!" she exclaimed with excitement, grabbing one of my hands and staring right into my eyes, making me more than a little uncomfortable.

"Orihime, we've been through this," Rukia said tiredly, like these were the type of situations she had to deal with every day. "I'm Rukia Kuchiki, nice to meet you," she smiled, turning to me and offering her hand in a handshake. I took it and smiled back, feeling off because of the fact that I had been crying not too long ago and I was suddenly smiling again.

"Anyway Minori-chan, is the reason you were crying something private? I didn't mean to intrude earlier, I just can't stand seeing people when they're sad. If it's something you want to talk about I'm sure Rukia-chan would listen along with me and comfort you. Also, I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new? Because if you are you could always come hang out with us and make even more new friends!" Her excitement seemed to come in a never-ending supply as she kept on adding more questions, and I have a feeling she only stopped because Rukia was peering at her through narrowed eyes by the time she stopped talking.

"Well, I guess I am a new student here, but I've never lived in Karakura Town before so you could say I'm completely new." I was about to tell her that I actually had someone to be with later on in the day, but the memory of Grimmjow's despicable attitude came back full force and I changed my mind before I could rethink it. "I would love to hang out with you and your friends, as long as they don't mind my being there of course," I added, grimacing slightly when she hugged me again and brushed off my concern, claiming that they would love having me there.

This time she let go relatively quickly though, instead looking at me seriously with an intensity I wouldn't have thought thought possible for her. "And the reason for your grief? Is it something Rukia and I should know as your new friends?"

My eyebrows creased at her inquiry; I didn't know whether it would be a very good idea to tell them about my relationship with Grimmjow. _I_ didn't even know what scale my hatred for him was on. I just knew that I despised him. That was about it.

I was still debating when I looked up to see Rukia give me a small nod. That tiny gesture was all it took for me to cave in and tell them. People like them weren't gossips, and I knew they wouldn't tell anyone else without clearing it with me first.

"O-Ok, I guess if there's anyone I can tell it'll be you guys," I said. I told them a shortened version of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, including the past behind my arranged marriage with Grimmjow. They stayed quiet and attentive throughout my entire speech, and when I finished I found that I actually felt better after finally let everything out.

Rukia and Orihime looked at each other and opened their mouths to say something but were cut off by the warning bell. I asked if there was something they were going to say but I guess it slipped their minds or wasn't that important because they shook their heads and seemed in quite a hurry to get me to class after that.

"So, what class are you in Minori-chan? Rukia and I are in class 2B along with the rest of our friends," Orihime said a little too quickly, smiling nervously while she fingered a blue star-shaped pin attached to her jacket's front pocket. Rukia remained silent and chose to stare at the floor instead, seeming as if she was straining to keep herself from talking.

I gazed at both of them for a moment before deciding that if they wanted to tell me something they eventually would.

"I'm in class 2B as well." I was beginning to get used to all these strange happenings, but I still felt a chill of elation run up my spine when I learned we'd be in the same class. There was only one thing that bothered me: Could it be that Grimmjow was in our class too?

"Hurray! Oh we're gonna have a great time with each other, I just know it!" Orihime clapped with joy. I was happy too; that is, until I noticed that Rukia looked even mote strained than before.

"Um, is there something wrong Rukia?" I asked cautiously, lightly tapping the raven on her shoulder. Her head snapped up and she looked a bit disoriented. She recovered quickly however, and immediately put on a smile.

"No of course not! I was just glad that you were put into the same class as Orihime-chan and I!"

There was definitely something going on here. I didn't want to push them too hard though; they had done plenty to make me feel better and I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship for one stupid thing. I let it slide and shrugged, standing beside Orihime were she had suddenly stopped.

"Well, this is it! Welcome to class 2B!" she said brightly, ushering me inside the classroom before I could get a good look inside.

When I finally got her to let go of my arms I let my eyes wander around the room, taking in all of the people sitting in their respective groups and chatting. They all looked normal enough until I spotted a group on the far left of the class. It was pretty big and had lots of.. interesting looking people. A boy with a head full of orange hair caught my attention first. He was sitting on top of a desk with a scowl on his face, seemingly in the middle of an argument with another guy that had red hair and a lot of tattoos.

"W-Who... who are they?" I asked no one in particular, sucking in a breath in when Orihime answered, informing me that it was their group of friends. "Oh. They seem... nice?" I finally said, scrambling to find the right words so I wouldn't sound like I was outright lying.

The guy with the orange hair noticed us before Orihime or Rukia could say anything else, and he waved us over before I could squeak in protest.

"Oi Rukia, Orihime! Come over here!" he called loudly, earning the attention of the rest of his group. They're reactions were all pretty much the same: They greeted their two friends and stared at me to the point were I was on the edge of hiding behind Orihime, who was directly beside me and would probably provide better cover than Rukia's small frame anyway.

There was a few more awkward silences before Rukia finally decided to pipe up. "Guys, this is Minori Nakamura. Minori-chan, meet my friends." She smiled at me and then turned her head back to them, placing her hands on her hips expectantly.

"Well isn't she a cutie!" a girl with strawberry-blonde hair and a chest more massive than Orihime's exclaimed, hopping up from her seat and clamping her hands down on my shoulders. "My name is Rangiku Matsumoto, but you can call me Rangiku!"

My eyes widened at the contact and then quickly shrunk back to size, my hand making and awkward kind of wave as I spoke. "Hi, nice to meet you Mat- er.. Rangiku-chan," I said, quickly fixing what I was about to call her when she gave me a small glare.

"Good, I see you understood when I asked to to call me Rangiku. Nice to meet you too Minori-chan." She let go of me after saying that, walking back to where she had been previously sitting only to drag the guy the had been next to her over to me.

"This is Gin. We've been dating since we were first-years like you three," she said as a matter-of-factly, pointing at Orhime, Rukia, and me. The boy seemed to have gotten over his initial confusion and gave me a kind of creepy close-eyed smile. He was pretty tall considering he was taller than Rangiku, who wasn't exactly small and petite like Rukia.

"Hey. I would introduce myself ta ya Minori-chan, but Rangiku already did. But I guess she didn't tell ya my last name so I might 's well say the whole thing. I'm Gin Ichimaru, third-year student," he drawled in his strange way of speaking, creepy grin widening.

"Eh.. hello Ichimaru-senpai. I'm a new first-year student, as Rangiku-chan guessed earlier." His gaze had me struggling for words and it made me uneasy, my fingers grasping at the sleeves of my jacket almost unconsciously.

"Oi, oi, how about we quit pressuring her and just tell her each of our respective names already? And there's no need to address anybody in this group as senpai or by their last names out of formality, we're not really big on all that shit. Right guys?" the boy with the orange hair asked, his gaze lingering on Gin's smiling face before moving on to the rest of them.

"I was just about ta tell her that myself," Gin said, resting his elbow on a window sill, the ends of his long fingers brushing against his silver hair.

"But that's disrespectful..." I mumbled, pink dusting itself along my cheeks for no good reason. I knew it had something to do with the boy talking to me, but exactly what had caused me to blush was a mystery.

"Nope, we don't mind. In fact, I would consider it even more disrespectful if you called me by my last name Minori-chan," he claimed, standing up to full height in front of me during the process of his speaking. For some reason my face became even more red than before at the sound of my name.

"Well I guess. But what's _your_ name? I can't very well call you by it if you don't tell me," I said bravely. I had no idea where _that_ had come from. Usually I would've just kept quiet and nodded my head.

"Hah, she really told you Ichigo," the guy with the red hair and crazy tattoos snorted, earning a very menacing glare from said person which got him to shut up pretty damn quickly.

He then turned back to me and shrugged in admittance, "He's right, you did get me. I have to admit, I wasn't really expecting that. No offence, but you didn't seem like the type of person to make a comeback. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, also a first-year." The corners of his mouth rose slightly in a small smile.

"Ichigo, like the strawberry?" I asked, an innocent look on my face. I knew that probably wasn't what it was supposed to mean, but the look on his face as he processed my question was absolutely priceless. I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped my throat at his flustered expression.

"She's completely destroying you Kurosaki!" the same guy from before chortled, softly smacking his hand on top of my shoulder with a look of approval. "I like you! The name's Renji Abarai."

"Why does EVERBODY always say that? It means _the_ _one_ _who_ _protects_ okay!" Ichigo griped, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation. Apparently his name was mistaken for having that meaning often, and that's why my comment had upset him so much. Eventually I got to meet the rest of Orihime and Rukia's friends (apparently there were a few others that were in different classes though).

Before we could really strike up a conversation the final bell rung, signaling the beginning of first period. As if on cue the teacher walked in at that precise moment and everyone immediately took their seats, Rangiku and Gin rushing out of the door to get to their own class. I was left standing alone in the back, one arm awkwardly strung across the other as the teacher took their time to notice my presence.

"Oh! You must be the new transfer student! My apologies Miss, I've been quite busy this morning and I guess it kind of slipped my mind," he said a bit humorously, scratching the back of his neck. He wore clogs and a striped hat that somehow cast a shadow across half his face, most of his sandy blonde hair tucked underneath it.

"I'm Urahara, your biology teacher," he added, beckoning for me to join him at the front of the class. "Why don't you tell everyone your name so they can familiarize themselves with you?"

Half of the class already knew who I was because of the earlier incident, but I thought it'd be best if I complied with his request since I had a feeling he didn't have a clue about what my name was.

"I'm Minori Nakamura, and this is my first time living in Karakura Town. It's very nice to meet all of you," I said, bowing my head after presenting myself.

"Well Nakamura-chan, why don't you take that empty seat by the window," Urahara suggested, pointing at the vacant desk in front of Ichigo. I guess class was going to be interesting after all.

"Okay." I quickly strode over to the desk and almost tripped over my own two feet when I noticed a boy with very pale skin and piercing green eyes was staring at me very intently. I tried not to make it obvious that I had noticed his stare, but it proved to be a very hard task when I could feel his eyes trained on my side even when I had already sat down.

By that time Urahara had already launched into a lecture about cellular respiration; a subject I had extensive knowledge about thanks to the private tutor I used to have back home. After the first two minutes of attempting to ignore the pale boy's stare I could feel my cool slipping, and if it hadn't been for Ichigo choosing that exact moment to turn around and whisper something, I think I may have just had a nervous breakdown for the second time that morning.

"Do you get any of this stuff? Once Urahara gets into gear there no stopping him to ask questions. It's like he's in his own little world." I opened my mouth to answer but I guess I had been too late because I could tell Ichigo had caught on that something was amiss with me. "Is something wrong? You're not gonna throw up are you?" he asked, giving me a weird look.

"What? No, of course not. It's just... It's just that that creepy guy over keeps staring at me and its really starting to freak me out," I murmured, hoping he couldn't hear us from three seats over.

Ichigo looked around discreetly for a second and noticed him too, quickly turning his gaze back to me and seeming confused. "You mean Ulquiorra? I wouldn't get too worried, he's just strange like that. He hangs out with that group of bastards that are coming down the hall. All of them usually show up late or don't come at all; but not Ulquiorra. He's actually not that bad once you get over the initial creepiness. He's definitely better than those ass wipes he hangs out with." He nodded over at a small group of guys currently taking their time to get into the classroom. I couldn't see them very well at first but as they filed inside I noticed a very pretty girl with yellow hair was amongst them.

The last one walked inside a few seconds after the others, and it took all my willpower not to throw myself under my chair and hide. It was Grimmjow, and from the looks of things he hadn't noticed my presence yet.

Apparently I hadn't done a very good job of masking my emotions though because Ichigo immediately shook me out of my stupor and asked what was wrong.

"I-It's him," was all I managed to choke out, rage and disgust suddenly impairing my ability to speak as my eyes refused to move from Grimmjow's muscular frame. I had been doing fine again and just when I had managed to take my mind off of him he decided to plunge himself back into my life. I new I would have to face him again later, but I had never even considered the possibility that he would have the same class as me.

"Who's 'him' ?" Ichigo pressed, orange eyebrows knitting together as he tensed in his seat.

I didn't answer and just continued to glare at Grimmjow from my seat, flinching when his gaze finally met mine and a sadistic smirk immediately spread across his face. I held my ground until Urahara got his attention by tiredly asking him to get to his seat and he would get detention for being late. This punishment apparently applied to his entire group though because after that they each went to fill in the rest of the empty seats in the classroom with a few muttered complaints.

"Hold on a sec, are you talking about _Grimmjow_ _Jaegerjaquez_?" Ichigo asked in bewilderment, his expression turning an entire shade darker. "It's your first day and that asshole already approached you?" His eyes were incredulous as he came to his own conclusion. He looked as if he was about to go beat the living hell out of him that very second, but I desperately hung onto his forearm and gave him a pleading look.

"It's not like that! I've met him before. In fact he's my..." I stopped abruptly when I realized I was about to spill my secret to a random person I had met about ten minutes ago. If I was ever going to tell Ichigo about any of this mess, it would be later on when we got to know each other better. Besides, Grimmjow was walking up the isle to my right, and the only empty seat was the one next to me, so I immediately expected the worst.

"You're not telling me enough here Nakamura, What the hell did he do to make you so afraid of him?" He seemed to be directing his anger at me now, breaking his own rule against the use of last names and glaring at me fiercely.

"Well, what do we have here Minori? You shouldn't be talking to low-life scum like Kurosaki, his pissy attitude will rub off on ya." Grimmjow's purring voice came right next to my face; he was so close I could feel his breath tickle my ear. I immediately stiffened at his proximity and almost let out a scream when the gruesome sound of bone snapping against bone ricocheted through my brain.

Ichigo had completely lost his composure over Grimmjow's demeaning words and had swung full-force at his jaw. He'd hit him so hard his hand broke in three different places upon contact. I was shocked that Grimmjow had even been able to come back from such a forceful blow. He had taken Ichigo by surprise and pinned him down in the ensuing seconds, getting in a few blows of his own before Urahara and a couple of other guys managed to pry the two apart.

To say it had been a permanently scarring experience didn't cover the half of it. I'd ended up with splatters of Grimmjow's blood all over my face and uniform; and I had been more than a little shaky by the time their scuffle ended and was directed to the nurse's office.

I wasn't aware that Urahara had forgotten to send another person with us, and by the time we were out the door and in the hallway it was too late to go back and get somebody.

I suddenly became very nervous because two very bloody and very pissed off boys were walking on either side of me, and I was the only thing that was preventing them from lashing out at each other again.

My worries were quickly manifested when Ichigo also came to this conclusion and demanded that I move out of the way.

"Who the hell gave you permission to talk to Minori like that Grimmjow? Not only that, but you practically spat in my face and threw dirt at me back there like I was some kind of animal that would actually sit there and take your bullshit!"

"Well if it pisses you off so much Kurosaki why don't you stop barking like a little bitch and do something about it?"

"That's fucking it-"

"STOP IT!" I yelled so loudly my voice broke on the last syllable. They were so shocked by my outburst that they completely froze in their movements, both of them wide-eyed.

"What's wrong with you two? I know Grimmjow was being a dick but that was no reason for you to go hitting him like that Ichigo-kun! And I can't believe you would say such horrible words in front of me Grimmjow! Is the only way for you guys to solve a problem between each other violence?" I was on the verge of tears and I didn't even know why. I was so worked up and my nerves had already become vulnerable because of my quibble with Grimmjow in the morning. By the looks they had been giving each other before it seemed like they hated each other vehemently.

I was surprised all the commotion hadn't piqued the attention of any nearby staff members or even the overweight security guard I had seen roaming the school grounds earlier. I swallowed grossly and grimaced at the searing pain it caused in my throat, instinctively reaching up my fingers and touching them to the skin on my neck.

"I don't think a simple apology would suffice for getting somebody else's blood all over you and making you hurt your throat, so I won't say anything like that. You don't have to walk me, I'll go myself," Ichigo said with a concerned glance at my neck and then at my face. It looked like he wanted to offer me help but he just wiped some blood off his lip and strode off with a grunt, not looking back as he disappeared into another corridor.

* * *

Wow. So a lot of things happened in this chapter, and I'm sorry if I overwhelmed any of you with this super long entry. I just kind of felt like I was on a roll for the past two days and couldn't help myself. Anyway, I'll try and sort things out for you guys.

We began the chapter with Minori's first meeting with Grimmjow, and a few things happened there. Apparently Grimmy didn't care about what Minori would think of him and decided to treat her like everybody else. We saw her finally lose it in the bathroom and then be comforted my Orihime and Rukia, so it helped turn that scene bittersweet at least. She also met the whole crew, and I'll elaborate more on everyone that's with them more in the next chapter. Unfortunately, all of that was spoiled when Grimmjow walked in and started talking shit, which is never a good sign if Ichigo's anywhere in the vicinity. Then that scuffle broke out and poor Minori was forced to make both of them come to their senses. Now she and Grimmjow are on their way to the nurse's office, so we'll see how that goes on the next update ;)

Much love to all of you!

-MB


	3. Chapter 3

I had been left alone with my thoughts and a very annoyed looking Grimmjow for the first time since earlier in the morning, and it was not a position I really wanted to be in at that moment.

Instead of saying anything I walked forward and followed the path Ichigo had taken, hoping that Grimmjow would take the hint and follow my lead. Fortunately he did and just brushed past me when we turned into the corridor Ichigo had disappeared to, knowing I wouldn't know which door was the nurse's office.

He pulled the handle and I was about to follow inside when he suddenly stopped and blocked the entrance with his body. "You can leave me here, it's not necessary for you to take me inside. I'm not a little kid and I certainly don't need you to look after me." He tried nudging me further back into the hallway but I wouldn't budge, glaring at him, completely unimpressed by his attempt to get rid of me.

"Urahara-sensei told me to wait until the nurse was finished with both of you to come back, and besides, I'm not gonna walk around all day with your blood splattered all over my face." My voice was cold and firm, warning him not to push me any further than he already had.

"Tch, do whatever you want," he finally said after taking a few seconds to answer, turning his body and entering the office, not bothering to hold the door open for me as I trailed in behind him. It was kind of scary how quickly I was getting used to his brusque rudness. On the other hand, I supposed of I was doomed to spend the rest of my life with him it would be a good idea to continue building walls against his impertinence. It sure would save a lot of effort on my part.

The nurse glanced up at Grimmjow nonchalantly like she had been expecting his arrival when we walked in; inadvertently adding consistency to my theory that he and Ichigo got into fights constantly. If she knew he'd be coming in after Ichigo it proved that they were often visitors there. At least I could ask Rukia and Orihime about all of this later, but for now I only had my limited knowledge of them to go by.

The nurse led him to a small, sectioned-off area in the back, and after taking a look around I realized there were more little rooms like this separated by thick green curtains. The one next to it was occupied by a certain orange-haired boy who grimaced in pain when the nurse went into the room and wrapped bandages around each of his fingers and his knuckles. "You're lucky you didn't break them more, heaven knows just what your father's going to say when he takes a look at you and finds out you got into another fight," the nurse was saying as she finished with the bandages. Unfortunately Ichigo happened to look back up at the precise moment I had been staring at them, and I was powerless to stop the ensuing blush that flushed my cheeks.

He seemed relieved to see me in a calmer state, even going so far as to offer me a hesitant smile. I had no idea why, but it wasn't until that moment that I noticed he wasn't actually all that bad looking. Aside from the nasty bruises that were beginning to form in many areas of his face, he had a certain rough handsomeness that didn't escape my eyes, and he had taken his shirt off in order for the nurse to examine him more thoroughly, showing a very sculpted abdominal area that didn't look like it belonged to a sixteen-year-old. It didn't help that some sweat was glinting off of the exposed area of his chest under the harsh light of a lamp sitting on the shelf above him.

"H-How are you feeling?" I inquired sheepishly, tucking a strand of hair that had probably come out of my braid during my short tirade in the hallway.

"Oh don't worry about me, I'm doing fine. If anything you should be worrying about yourself instead. You still haven't cleaned that blood off of your face and I think it's already started to dry. There are some wipes here, if you want I'll take it off for you," he offered, holding up a box of sterilized wipes that had previously been sitting on the metal table beside him.

"Tch, if you guys are going to be so damn obvious while you continue to flirt like that I suggest you go do it somewhere I don't have to listen, it's pathetic," Grimmjow snapped out of nowhere, not even trying to mask the disgust in his voice.

Flirting! Where did he get that from? "Hold on-"

"Actually I could use some of your help young lady. Would you mind rubbing this on one of them while I work on the other?" the nurse spoke up before I could answer, pointing at a brown vial of natural healing cream that was also sitting on the metal table. "Just put that on all the bruising areas; it'll help ease the pain."

I blushed once again at the thought of having to rub that on either Grimmjow or Ichigo's perfectly toned bodies. Not only that, but the nurse was clearly not helping when she told me to choose whomever I liked and hurry on with it. I didn't want to make it seem like I was attracted to one more than the other; it was bad enough that I had been dragged into this situation with little idea of the true meaning behind their hatred for one another.

I turned to look at Ichigo again, catching his gaze and meaning to walk over to where he was sitting when a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Apparently Grimmjow hadn't even thought the possibility of me helping him to be very likely and had already gone ahead and entered the room next to the one Ichigo was in.

For some reason this awakened a slight pang of regret inside my chest, which made no sense whatsoever because Grimmjow only had himself to blame for my cold attitude towards him. Still, some naive and idiotic part of my brain thought that maybe he'd felt some pain at realizing I wouldn't choose him. That same annoying part also yearned for acknowledgement from him. I was officially losing it. Since when had I given a damn about him anyway?

After a final apologetic glance in Ichigo's direction I stumbled after Grimmjow, almost tripping over my own two feet from such a sudden movement. Even the nurse looked surprised as I opened the curtain to his room, shaking her head at my decision and repressing a knowing smile.

Grimmjow's back was turned as I entered the enclosed little room; he was in the process of removing his blood-stained shirt and hadn't noticed me come in. My heart took a little leap when my eyes landed on his rippling back and followed the lines defining his muscles to where they disappeared beneath his gray pants. Could all of that really be destined to be mine?

Once I realized what I was doing I wrenched my gaze from his lower hips and tried to focus on the task at hand.

"You should sit down before I start, it looks like what I'm about to do is going to be quite painful." He whipped around in surprise at the sound of my voice, knocking over a clear plastic container holding empty syringes with his elbow.

"Holy shit what the hell! You fucking scared the shit out of me!" he complained half-heartedly, relief being the major emotion he was feeling at the moment.

"Why who'd you think I was?" I chuckled at the childlike pout his lips were in. It didn't last very long though. His expression quickly changed when he seemed to remember something, and instead he wore an annoyed scowl.

"Aren't you supposed to be nursing Kurosaki back to health? I thought I was the fucked-up asshole you never wanted to see again. I'm not worth your time, remember?"

"I know you aren't. But you can't expect everyone to react the same way when you try to push them away. It'll take a lot more to really break me, you can be sure as hell of that, Grimmjow." I surprised even myself as I said this, realizing that every word I had said was true. Even if I hadn't wanted to consider the very realistic possibility that he had been acting this way on purpose all along, the unconscious part of my mind had ascertained this from the very beginning. There was just no way anybody would act so cruel for no good reason, and even if they could I was sure it would be of smaller magnitude.

"Who said I was trying? I could really make you hate me if I put in enough effort. But then I guess my father would be the first to know about it, wouldn't he?" He laughed darkly then, his fingers tightening on the edges of the medical bed directly behind him. "I'm guessing you haven't figured out why Aizen had that little talk with you this morning? He knows what I'm like, and he also knows what he would do to punish me if I ever did anything to jeopardize our marriage agreement."

I stared at him quietly before taking a few steps up to the bed and pushing my hand down on his shoulder, trying to get him to sit down on the thin piece of wax paper protecting the cushioned end of the bed. "I did know, actually. It still doesn't change anything though. You can try all you want, but I'm not leaving. Now sit down so I can rub this on you." My voice was soft but commanding as I picked up the healing cream and unscrewed the cap.

"Whatever. How are you able to do that anyway? Go from hating me to "understanding" me such a shirt amount of time?" He seemed less aggressive towards me and more curious, almost as if he had resigned from his plan of driving me away for the moment and stopping to think.

"Actually, I don't really know. I just did." I wasn't lying. It's wasn't like I had always possessed that ability, I didn't recall ever having done that before. It was more like a one time thing; there was something in the way his eyes were so distant and full of things I wanted to someday know about. Or maybe it was the incredibly agile and fluid way in which he moved, almost like some kind of jungle cat that was always on the prowl.

He still looked like he was completely lost, but surprisingly he didn't say anything else and just sat down like I'd told him to. "Well hurry up then, I don't know about you but I don't want to stay here all fucking day," he urged, putting his arms out to the sides in order to give me access the lesions on his ribs. I guess I had been wrong when I thought Ichigo hadn't managed to hit Grimmjow after that first punch because there were a few more scattered across his body.

I had forgotten that Grimmjow was already bare-chested and his movements sort of took me by surprise. As he moved his abs flexed upwards in all their glory, and I couldn't help the sharp intake of breath that escaped my nose. Damn. He really was attractive.

"What? Do you like what you see?" Grimmjow smirked, noticing my lingering stare and flexing again, this time on purpose. Vain bastard.

"S-Shut up. It's not my fault you're so conceited," I muttered, dipping my hand inside the cream's container and taking out a generous amount of the minty-smelling substance. I started on the worst-looking bruise on his chest, gingerly slathering on the cream. He immediately cringed and held his breath as I continued to rub.

"Damn, that shit stings like hell," he complained.

"Sorry, I'm trying to be as gentle as possible. And do you really have to cuss so much? It makes you sound..."

"Vulgar?" he offered, an amused look on his face. Well at least I had been able to distract him a little.

"No, I was going to say impudent. A first-class citizen like you should at least know how to speak properly. It's unbecoming of you." I looked at him seriously.

"Tch, you have no idea how many times Aizen has said those exact words to me," he said, my words clearly being brushed off as if they were worthless.

I pushed on one of the bruises a little bit harder than I needed to, satisfaction running through me when he sucked in a sharp breath of pain. "Well I'm not your father, am I?"

He glared at me in irritation and then turned his head away, crossing his arms in front of himself. "Hey I still wasn't finished with that one!" I protested , reaching to push his arms away. My hands clasped around either arm and I realized that I was unintentionally feeling his biceps. I blushed profusely and was relieved when he moved his arms away without much resistance.

I was grateful he hadn't noticed my slip-up, but after that I had an increasingly hard time focussing on anything but his body. He didn't comment and instead busied himself with thoroughly examining the entirety of the small medical room around him and staring into space.

After a couple of minutes I finished up on his midsection. "Okay, you can go ahead and put your arms down now, I should start working on your face," I smiled, suddenly feeling content for some reason. Maybe it was because I was glad we had finally been able to get along, or perhaps it was something deeper than that, although I didn't allow my mind to linger on that possibility for very long.

"You should do that more often. It's kind of... comforting. It makes me wanna smile along with you." He seemed to be embarrassed about sharing his thoughts with me, but I could do nothing except feel flustered at his nice words.

"Thank you. You should do that more often as well. It makes me feel like you don't actually hate my very presence. Being nice is becoming of you." I smiled again, this time a little more tentatively due to my flushed features.

"I wasn't saying it out of niceness, I said it because it was the truth. And I never actually hated you. I just... it was hard at first, you know? There was so much pressure on me, and I didn't know how else to act."

"You... I, I don't know what to say to that," I responded after a small pause in order to get what I'd just heard through my head. I didn't think talking like this was something Grimmjow did every day, and it definitely was a first for me.

"Here, let me get this on you, I think it'd be better if we just forgot about it. I'm not mad anymore, and I understand, for the most part." I hauled a worn metal stool from one of the corners and sat directly across from him to get a better view of his face. My hand dipped inside the container once again.

"Yeah whatever."

I raised my eyebrow at him and began applying some of the healing cream on the nasty red welt that Ichigo had afflicted on his jaw. He grimaced once again and instinctively reached up to still my hand. Our eyes met for the briefest of moments and the look he was giving me completely took my breath away, my quickened heartbeat deafening in my ears.

What was wrong with me? Wasn't this the man I was supposed to never truly acknowledge? Wasn't I supposed to show nothing but disdain and resentment towards him?

Grimmjow's hand slowly slid down from mine and he diverted his gaze elsewhere. Was that pink on his cheeks? I couldn't be sure because then he started talking again, and his voice sounded so captivating I had to tear my eyes away and focus on his words.

"You should be more careful next time, that could've really hurt," he said softly, so softly that it sounded more like a whisper than anything else. I couldn't help but hear the double-meaning behind that sentence. His lips were telling me that I could've made the pain in his face worse, but his eyes warned me that I was treading on dangerous grounds, and that I could end up getting really hurt by him in the process.

I couldn't bring myself to care. Not about what my beliefs had been before meeting him, and certainly not about what he could possibly end up doing to me in the future.

"Sorry, I will," I murmured so as not to give away my understanding of his words, choosing to keep quiet about it for the meantime.

My hands travelled up and down his jaw line and cheekbones, spreading the cream across his face. I was so lost in my actions that I jumped, stunned, when I felt a cold cloth on my face all of a sudden.

"Calm down! I was just wiping this shit off your face, you've let it sit there and dry for long enough," Grimmjow said, placing his hand on my arm to calm me and showing me the cloth that was now discolored with his blood.

"Oh crap I totally forgot about that!" I cried, touching my face with a bit of disgust when I felt the flaking blood.

He quickly wiped the rest of it off, but it was hard to continue on his face when he was continuously blocking my vision, so I just sat there and waited for him to finish. When he he did he set the cloth down on the metal table and grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand toward his face until my fingers rested on his cheek. "Go ahead," he said, waiting for me to continue my treatment on him.

I did, but this time he didn't take his eyes off of me and I ended up blushing yet again. There was an opened up area sitting just below his bottom lip and ending at the crease in between his lips which desperately needed my attention.

I filled the tip of my index finger with cream and carefully began applying it to that area. A twitch in his lips sent a chill down my spine, and he was still looking at me intensely when I reached the crease of his lip. I was about to move my finger away when he grabbed my hand and parted his lips, his pink tongue coming out and taking a single, languid lick at the tip of my finger where there was still some cream left. When he moved his face away however my finger was cream-free.

My face lit up with such a scorching heat that I involuntarily brought my hands up to my face and partially covered it. "W-What was that!" I cried, my voice thick with embarrassment and confusion. Was this his idea of courtesy?

He blinked in apparent confusion before shrugging his shoulders. "I figured I'd help you out and take that stuff off your finger. It's the least I could do since you're helping me. I may have a fucked up way of being, but I personally hate having a debt hanging over my head without some kind of repayment."

It didn't seem like such a big deal to him, but I would never be able to forget that one, tiny action. And of course, I think anybody would've been embarrassed if they'd been in my position. I mean, who does that as an act of 'repayment'? I didn't exactly see how that had really helped me at all, but I decided not to mention that part so as not to give him any new ideas.

"Okay... please don't do that again. Ever." I placed the screw back onto the container and set it back down on the table, sweeping my eyes over his half-naked body once again to make sure I had taken care of all the injuries.

Satisfied, I nodded and told him to put his shirt back on since I was finished.

"It's too bad, I thought you were enjoying looking at me while I was like this," Grimmjow said with a growing smirk, gesturing at his bare chest.

"You're real funny Grimmjow. I'm heading out to check on Ichigo-kun so you should get changed already," I suggested, pulling down the sleeves of my school jacket and making for the edge of the closed curtain. "And don't leave until I come with him." I looked over my shoulder at him with a stern gaze, but he seemed to have been bothered by something I had said.

"Something wrong?" I asked, turning all the way around this time in concern.

"No, it's nothing. Go on, I guess I'll meet up with you and Kurosaki in a minute."

He was acting distant again.

I didn't like it.

We should have been past that by now, but I guess he might have been a little overwhelmed from the day's events. It wasn't surprising, given all that had happened in only a few hours. I thought about it for a second before reluctantly letting it slide, and I left the room, closing the curtain behind me and crossing over to Ichigo's room.

* * *

She strode out of the room somewhat hesitantly before sliding the curtain shut behind her, braid tailing after her just a second after her body moved as it always seemed to.

Minori was a lot smarter than I had given her credit for. She'd figured out my plan very quickly, much sooner than I'd thought she would. So why didn't that bother me?

My only reaction to her astute observation skills had been slight shock and then a pure feeling of adrenaline. This girl was definitely giving me a run for my money and the mere thought of that sent exhilaration coursing through my veins.

But there was also something else. I felt... refreshed. In all my life I had never met a girl that wasn't willing to throw herself at me purely because I was hot. All I ever had to do was ask, and sometimes I didn't even have to do _that._

But she, she was different. She didn't waste any time letting me know that I disgusted her, that she wanted nothing to do with me. Of course, she had withdrawn that statement later, but all the same, Minori wasn't the type of girl that I was used to handling.

The fact that she wasn't a whore like most other girls had made me think twice about treating her the way I had been. Her finding out about my plan was only part of the reason why I had decided to stop pushing her away. She was strong, in her own way. And the fact is, I thought that if there was anyone I would be forced to stick with for the rest of my life, I was glad it was her. It had nothing to do with romantic appeal, although she was undoubtedly pretty. It was solely because I knew she and I could get along if we tried hard enough; hell, I knew that we could even be happy, or at the very least, not utterly miserable as I'd first thought we'd be.

But that wasn't ever going to be enough, we both knew. Even I, whom had very little care for things like true love when it wasn't purely physical, knew that the forced manner in which we had been brought together along with bodily attraction was never going to evoke feelings of love. There had to be something else, and we were both clearly lacking it.

Even thought she had made it clear that she intended for us to get along well, I could see in her eyes that she would never be able to love me like that. The feeling was mutual.

Minori could never love a guy she would be forced to marry, and I could never love anybody for real, period.

* * *

After Minori, Kurosaki, and I had left back to the classroom I had pretty much avoided the two of them for the rest of the day until lunch.

Ulquiorra and I had left the classroom together as usual without bothering to wait for the rest of our group. Instead we walked to a sort- of secluded bench area that no one except us ever sat in. It was our usual meeting place with everyone else and both Ulquiorra and I alike never really ate during lunch hour.

It was kind of awkward to sit there so silently with having uttered a single word to each other, so I decided I might as well start a conversation, although I really did hate small talk.

"So, have you made any progress with that ditzy girl that hangs out with Kurosaki and his friends?" I asked, scooting back on the wooden bench a little and carelessly putting my feet up on the table. Might as well make myself comfortable.

"I told you not to talk about that. And she's not ditzy," Ulquiorra grunted from his spot across from me, his face set in its usual emotionless mask, although I think I may have seen his eyebrow twitch a little at the end of his statement, which made me smirk.

"And I've told you a countless amount of times to quit bitching about Minori, but that never seemed to stop you and your creepy emotional preaching, now did it?" He smiled slightly at my comeback and relaxed his tense posture, pale hands coming to rest on top of the picnic table.

"Speaking of which-"

"Don't bother. I made up with her already. She caught on to me much quicker than I'd anticipated, so we made a deal that we would try to avoid bickering with each other from now on," I said.

"I'm glad you did." Ulquiorra seemed like he was being honest, I could tell by the way the sentence hadn't been forced.

"On another note, you did seem to get quite a beating from Ichigo earlier. It was funny as hell, and frankly, something you deserved," he added, almost laughing now.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit. You could've at least come in and helped me, ist that what fucking friends are for?" I said in spite of myself, not bothering to remind him that I had been the one to pin Kurosaki to the floor, not the other way around.

"Hah, I agree with Ulquiorra, you should've seen the look on your face when that carrot-top nailed you in the jaw, it was fucking priceless."

I felt a big, meaty hand slap me on the back followed by that obnoxious laugh that could only belong to Yammy.

He moved around me and plopped down next to Ulquiorra before I had the chance to return the favor. The rest of the guys trailed there after him, completing our group.

"Hey Grimmjow-kun, is it okay of we sit by you?" Their usual obstreperous greeting was said in perfect synch, and was followed by loud chortles and snickers.

It wasn't uncommon for desperate girls to find their way to our table just so they could sit there and admire my face. Actually, admire was probably an understatement. It was more like they eye fucked me with ravenous stares while I sat through it until lunch was over.

Anyway, one of the guys had come up with the stupid idea that it would be funny to try and act like fangirls even when they were around. Which was why lunch always ended with somebody getting the idiocy beaten out of them.

"Fuck off dumb asses," I growled, flipping them my middle finger before crossing my arms.

"Well he's no fun, as always," Noitora fake-pouted, his dark hair cascading down and covering half of his face.

The rest of the people there were Stark, Szayel, Tier Halibel and the annoying-as-hell Luppi.

I did a stort of double-take and blinked to make sure I hadn't gone crazy, but it turned out I wasn't. The same Tier Halibel that had been the only other girl except for one other to have rejected my offer to take her into bed was sitting on the lap of the most idiotic gorilla in school: Yammy.

"What the actual fuck! Halibel, I thought you hated every man in the world because to you they were all vulgar and repugnant? How much were you paid to walk around pretending to be Yammy's girlfriend like that?" I exclaimed, not doing a very good job of hiding my shock and blatant refusal of the truth.

It wasn't like I held a particular fondness or grudge against her, but the way she had previously been devoted to women's rights and the degrading of men, I had thought she would never have agreed to be anyone's girlfriend. In fact, a part of me had thought that she was actually lesbian or something. So to say I was taken completely off guard was completely downplayed to how I actually felt.

"What the hell do you see in a piece of shit like Yammy?"

He didn't seem particularly offended by my description of him, but Halibel apparently was.

"He's straightforward and completely honest, unlike you Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. That's one quality that you'll never be able to attain. You've dedicated your life to deluding people to such a degree that your lies have become the truth even to yourself, and you've lost all sense of the real truth completely." She was glaring daggers at me like she usually did, and her words were just as sharp.

"Pft, yeah whatever. But still, why Yammy? He doesn't really deserve to have someone like you in the first, honesty aside."

"It's because I'm sexy, alright. Or at least better-looking than you because unlike you, she accepted _my_ offer," Yammy said with a huge smirk, pulling Halibel closer by putting his arm around her. To my surprise, she didn't shove him away or even complain like I thought she would've. She just smiled at him and shifted to lean her head on his shoulder, pushing her voluptuous chest against his side.

"Don't make me laugh Yammy. I've slept with more girls than I can count and before her you hadn't even had your first kiss yet. You've still got a hell of a long way to go before you even pose a threat to my record. Besides, even if you suddenly became a womanizer I would still be getting laid every night, so it's actually completely impossible." Now this had finally gotten him pissed. Good. The ass wipe deserved it for even saying such ridiculous things out loud.

"No Grimmjow, I don't think you will be. Not with your future wife living under the same roof as you you're not," Luppi said teasingly out of nowhere.

This was exactly why I hated him. The smug bitch always found a way to be a smart ass about everything. Not only that, but he actually thought it was okay to be good friends with Gin Ichimaru, a guy that was a part of Kurosaki's little posse.

His fucking comment had really pissed me off, mostly because he was right. I couldn't do that to Minori. Closing myself off to her was one thing, but outright cheating on her while she was living in the same house as me was something else completely. We may not ever be officially dating, but we will be officially married someday, so I still would consider it to be cheating on her in some way. She would probably never do it to me, nor do I think she would be too happy if she found out about my history. Something told me she had never even bothered with a boyfriend because of her impending fate with me, which was definitely a smart thing to do on her part. Better not to fall in love with someone you could never have.

"Who the hell invited you into this conversation, Luppi? Or even better, who the hell invited you to come sit with us anyway?"

We continued our bickering until Ulquiorra finally got me to calm down, and by then it was already time to go back to class.

* * *

After the lunch bell had rung Rukia and Orihime immediately dragged me off to the stairs without bothering to even give my feet time to find purchase on the floor from how quickly they were moving.

They didn't stop until they arrived on the roof of the school where the rest of their friends were already hanging around, talking and eating.

Orihime lead the way to a small group sitting in a circle that consisted of Ichigo, and a few others who had already been presented to me: Sado, Ishida (he actually didn't mind the whole last name deal), Keigo, and Mizuiro.

"Hey guys," I greeted warmly before sitting down in a spot between Ichigo and Ishida. I took out my homemade bento and balanced it on my thighs, struggling to get comfortable on the hard concrete roof.

"That looks good, mind if I steal a bite?" Ichigo asked with a hungry glance at my lunch.

"Sure! Here you go," I said, picking up a small riceball with my chopsticks and meaning to put it in his hand, but before I could Ichigo leaned his head forward and took it in his mouth, balancing the chopsticks by grabbing hold of my wrist and keeping it steady.

He drew away and finished it quickly, moving just as suddenly as he had before. Why did embarrassing stuff like this keep happening to me?

"Mmm, that _was_ good. Thanks," Ichigo said contently. He smiled innocently like nothing had happened while I sat there red-faced and confused.

"Ichigo stop trying to charm the new girl! It's not fair, I told you that I would enchant her with my gallantry and dashing good looks, but then you have to come around and have her feed you-"

"Shut up Keigo. First of all, you never said any if that bullshit to me. Secondly, I was just trying to eat some food because I left my money at home and I can't buy any. Go bother the hell out if someone else now, okay?" Ichigo's face was set in a slightly irked, slightly amused expression, which was kind of adorable when you paid closer attention.

Still, at least his intentions really _had_ been innocent, which was a relief.

I finished my lunch quickly while we had meaningless, but funny conversations in between. The Keigo guy was actually pretty hilarious, although he had kind of creeped me out at first when he had stated his intentions of 'enchanting' me.

"Hey Minori, Orihime and I thought it'd be nice of we went and sat over there so we could talk privately with you. You know, so we're not surrounded by this gang of idiots," Rukia said in a suggestive manner, pointing over at a green area with a couple of trees on the opposite side of the roof.

"Yeah, I don't mind." I wondered what it was they still had to tell me. It couldn't be that bad, right? After all, I was pretty sure they had told me just about everything that there was to know about the students here.

"Well then, I guess that means I can join too because I'm no idiot," Ichigo said from behind me, leaving every one that was still sitting with offended looks on their faces when they realized what he had just called them.

"We're going to talk about girl stuff Ichigo, and I doubt you'll find our conversation very interesting. Besides, it's none of your business, hence the word _private_." Rukia's outer expression gave nothing away, but there was something about how she'd said that sentence that made her sound a bit desperate for him to believe her.

"I don't care. Minori, do you mind if I tag along?" He turned to look at me then.

"Me? Well I mean, I guess I have no problem with that, although I think it'd be better if I knew what we were going to talk about first," I said. I sent an apologetic glance at Rukia thinking she'd be annoyed at me, but she seemed to be more worried than irritated.

"Are you sure Minori?" Orihime asked with the same hesitant desperation in her voice as Rukia. I was sure they were overreacting over whatever it was, so I decided to shrug it off and nod my head yes.

"That settles it then. Come on," Ichigo called out behind his shoulder, already walking towards the trees.

I followed him without thinking and reached the shade of the trees, sliding down to lean against a trunk with my knees bent. Orihime and Rukia followed suit and sent uncomfortable glances at each other when Ichigo scooted to the side and sat across from me on the small stretch of grass.

"So what's this about?" I asked. All this fussing had made me genuinely curious, so I got straight to the point.

"Um... Well, we wanted to talk to you about Grimmjow's reputation. We just think it's something you should know given your.. er, situation with him." Orihime was struggling for the right words to say.

It took me a few seconds to realize two things: One, this really was the one subject I would want to talk about in private. And two, Ichigo didn't know anything about my arranged marriage with Grimmjow, and I highly doubted he would like to hear about it.

"O-Oh.." was all I managed to breathe out. I avoided looking at Ichigo because I could already picture his expression.

Only moments later, my fears were confirmed.

"Situation with Grimmjow? Minori what is she talking about. Does this have something to do with what happened earlier?" His voice was in a low tone I had never heard him use before. It made me feel like I had betrayed him in someway, which was completely ridiculous because we had just become friends. We weren't supposed to be nearly close enough for me to feel like that, but I did anyway.

"I, uh... I'm kind of in a complicated relationship with him. There are a lot of things you have to know about my past for you to understand," I said. Rukia gave me a warning look as if to caution me from going any further, but I quickly figured I would have to tell him someday, so he might as well find out now before he could accuse me of hiding things from him.

"I've got time. I think I should know about this if it has something to do with that son of a bitch," Ichigo said, eyebrows furrowed and his eyes distant.

"Okay." I proceeded to tell him all about the Nakamura family and our connection to Sosuke Aizen. But I faltered when the time came to tell him about Grimmjow. I just didn't want to see him mad again, not after what happened during class.

"It's alright Minori, he'll understand," Rukia reassured me, smiling gently and nodding for me to continue.

I smiled back weakly but gratefully, thankful for her attempt to make everything easier on me. I took in a rush of air and tried again.

"Because of the assurance it would bring to both families, our parents decided it would be within their best interests to bring their children together in marriage. Which means that someday I will have to marry Grimmjow whether I like it or not." I studied Ichigo's face carefully after having finished speaking.

He was definitely angry.

"So you mean to tell me that someday you're just going to give in and allow something like that to happen? A bastard like him doesn't deserve you, or anyone else for that matter. Do you even have any idea of what his favorite pastime is?" he asked in that same low tone of voice he had used earlier.

I didn't. And I wasn't really sure I wanted to know, judging from the hate-filled glint in Ichigo's eye.

"No."

"He spends his nights-"

"He's a player, Minori. A massive one. But he never bothers wasting his time with relationships, no, it's much worse than that," Rukia smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes and instead showed an expression of rueful bitterness, "he prefers to have sex with them once and then throw them out like old rags. Honestly I don't know which part is worse, the fact that girls line up for his attention knowing full well what he's like, or that he has never tried to hide the fact that all he wants from girls is a good night of entertainment."

I couldn't sit there anymore. Suddenly I felt sick, and I jerked myself up off the ground all in a single violent movement. I needed to get off the roof, immediately.

I ran off without so much as a glance at the three people I had left behind stunned. They shouldn't have been all that surprised though; what kind of woman likes hearing information like that about the guy she was destined to marry?

Of course, there was a major difference between knowing something in your heart and and hearing it from someone else. Because I had already known this too, about Grimmjow. For some reason he had not been somebody that was very difficult to figure out from the very beginning. I _knew_ that he was this type of person.

So why couldn't I stop it from hurting?

I honestly didn't even know why I had run away like I did. It was hard to process such information, sure, but it was hardly a cause for me to run away. Then again, I had never really been the kind of person that enjoyed showing their feelings in front of everyone else.

Just as I was nearing the door that lead to the stairs, the footsteps behind me that I had been ignoring until then got very loud and only a second later a hand reached out and spun me around by the wrist.

It was Ichigo. He had been running after me the while time and had barely managed to catch up to me because of my sudden head start.

"Listen Minori, I know none of this is your fault. Hell, it's not even Grimmjow's fault, at least, not completely. You knew what he was, didn't you? Us telling you was just an enforcement to what you'd already guessed. But, even though it pains me to say this, Grimmjow is capable of change. I've seen it. Maybe it wasn't for the better, but he used to be different. Back in middle school before... something happened that deeply scarred him." His face went distant then, seemingly deep in thought.

Could it be possible? Had Grimmjow actually been a better person before? Could he really be capable of changing?

The answer was yes. He was. I had seen it too, back in the nurse's office.

He'd given up on trying to push me away and had actually helped me out, in his own way. He'd given me peace of mind, and I was just then realizing it. Grimmjow may have had sex with many, if not all, the beautiful girls at this school in the past, but he himself had made it clear that despite his hatred for his father he intended to follow through with our marriage. I didn't know what his motivation was, but I was grateful for it.

Because his situation was different now. He'd never had me there to keep him focused before, but I knew, I knew that he would change. Somewhere deep in my heart there was conviction, and I suddenly wasn't so upset anymore.

There was one thing though, that kept eating at my mind. "What happened to him to cause him to change so much?" I asked Ichigo quietly, my voice barely above a whisper as the warm afternoon wind blew my bangs over my eyes.

"It's not my place to tell you. I may hate the guy, but even Grimmjow has to be taken under consideration where things of that magnitude are concerned," he paused then, locking eyes with me, "I'm sure he'll tell you someday. It would be hard to resist to someone like you."

My heart skipped a beat, followed by a chilled feeling that almost made me shiver. His voice had been so gentle then, an almost rueful half-smile gracing his face as the wind whipped around his orange hair on the rooftop. He really was very handsome when he looked at me with such a piercing gaze that saw through even my soul.

"What do you mean by that?" I said, unconsciously stepping a little closer to him as I spoke. He was a lot taller than me, much more than I cared dwell on for too long. The way the wind was carrying his hypnotic scent though the air was extremely distracting. Cinnamon and a hint of strawberry. It fit him very well.

"That you're stubborn as hell and a pain when people have to go chasing you across rooftops just to try and get you to calm down," he replied teasingly, the previously intense look in his eyes having disappeared altogether as if we hadn't just had moment.

He didn't allow me to even begin to try and puzzle it out when he poked me in the ribs, making me swat his hands away to get him to stop before I started having a laughing fit.

"Don't do that, I'm really ticklish!" I exclaimed when he wouldn't stop poking me. I realized my mistake as soon as the words left my mouth, and after that I spent the rest of lunch laughing and running away from him. I inadvertently ended up getting a bunch of other people involved when I tried hiding behind several of Ichigo's friends, and by the end of lunch hour it was an all-out war between the guys and the girls.

* * *

The bell rung for the end of lunch and Orihime and Rukia watched as Minori and Ichigo walked down the hallway together, talking and laughing.

"I've never seen Ichigo so cheerful. And I've definitely never seen him look at anybody like that before." Orihime stared on with wide eyes, a smile beginning form gradually on her pretty face.

"I think we might have some future trouble on our hands," Rukia said, her expression a lot more grim.

* * *

Before anyone stabs me, I know, I teased you guys a lot during this chapter *smirks evily*.

But alas, there's no need to fear my lovelies, the real romance and juicy stuff will come when the time is right. For now though, Grimmjow and Minori are now officially on better terms, even after she found out about his *cough* reputation *cough* with women. And what's going on there with Ichigo? I tried my hardest not to make him too OOC in this chapter, which was quite the difficult task given what I wanted to accomplish in this update. I also hope that last little bit with third-person Rukia and Orihime didn't confuse you guys too much. My intention was just to help shed some light on a few things.

Thanks for reading my darlings! :)


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure?"

I stared down at my ruined sweater and wrinkled my nose. It was wet and muddy, patches of brown already drying in some places where less water had been able to reach.

After school was officially over for the day I had walked to the front of the school with Grimmjow and waited quietly for his chauffeur to arrive with his car. But he had been running a bit late, and we'd ended up having to wait for him for over ten minutes in the school parking lot. From the many puddles that littered the area, I guessed it had been raining the day before and probably several days before that.

When the chauffeur had finally pulled up in Grimmjow's blue Ferrari I had been in such a hurry to get inside the car that I had dropped my sweater from where I had been clutching it loosely in my hands into a particularity nasty-looking puddle. Not to my surprise Grimmjow had laughed at me first, but after seeing my expression decided to pick it up for me and hand it over in its muddled state, asking if I wanted to just throw it away. I didn't see the point however, and had just shook my head and told him I could wash it when we got home.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for picking it up at least. I think I could use the practice for, well you know, later on," I said, trying my best to sound casual while talking about a subject that clearly wasn't. After all, it wasn't like we were exactly used to the idea of having to marry each other someday. But it was certainly getting better; as of that moment we were on good terms and had started to act like normal, sane people again. Or at the very least, normal enough to not constantly be at each other's throats. It was actually kind if nice.

"It's just a wet sweater, it's not like it took very much effort to pick up up. But you're welcome, I guess," he shrugged opening the passenger door and ushering me inside before he followed suit and sat beside me.

"Sorry about the delay sir, I had some pressing issues with your father that could

not wait," the chauffeur apologized from the driver's seat, making eye contact with both of us through the front mirror as he spoke.

"Whatever, you didn't make us wait that long anyway."

A normal bystander wouldn't have been able to tell, but I noticed Grimmjow's eyes go hard at the mention of Aizen. From the way I'd heard him talk about him, I knew Grimmjow felt little love or respect for his father. The reason for that was completely lost to me, but then again I had literally just entered his life. Maybe after a few months of really getting to know each other I would be able to find out.

"So, there isn't really much we know about each other personality wise. I think we should play that one game where we ask each other ten questions and we have to answer all of them truthfully," I spoke up after a minute of strained silence spent staring out the car window. To be honest, I wasn't really the type of person that enjoyed sharing things about myself for the simple reason that I preferred to keep to myself most of the time. Sure, today I had let myself go and had been a lot more opened up to others, but it was really out of character for me and I usually didn't have very much in the friends department. Having a couple of close friends was more than enough in my opinion. But I had to push myself to become familiarized with the mystery man that was my future husband.

"You're not serious are you?" Grimmjow asked, unimpressed by my less-than mediocre proposal to get to know each other.

"Well we have nothing better to do in here," I pointed out, trying not to sound offended.

He spent a few more moments gazing at me with an impassive expression, eventually groaning in defeat and setting his lips into a slight pout that actually made him look kind of cute.

"Fine. You go first," he sighed.

"Okay. What's your favorite color?"

"Really?" Grimmjow asked, quirking both eyebrows at me and seeming like for all the world he wanted to roll his eyes.

"Just shut up and answer the question." I was kind of curious anyway, and it wasn't my fault that said question was so cliched.

He dragged a hand through his turquoise hair and let out a little puff of air, answering with one terse word,"Black."

Black? That was obscure in more ways than one. Judging from the color of his hair and his car, I had been pretty sure it was blue. He was just full of surprises.

"Weird, I would've taken you for a blue fan," I said, gesturing at his hair.

"For your information, I was born with blue hair and I wasn't the one that chose the color of this car. You really shouldn't assume things based on people's outward appearances," he said in his defense, adding a sarcastic tone that didn't go by unnoticed by me.

What was even more annoying than his tone was the fact that he was right. It's not like anything that had to do with colors was a very big deal, but for some reason it really irked me when he was correct about something that had to do with common morals. I guess it had something to do with the fact that in my mind I only thought about him as someone who didn't care about things like that, and therefore didn't have the right to point something like that out to me.

"You sure are one to talk, considering I didn't know you even knew morals existed in the first place," I muttered, slumping down in my seat in order to get more comfortable.

"Well then I guess that's just another thing you learned about me," Grimmjow replied with a smirk, flashing those sharp canine teeth of his that really appealed to me for some reason. "It's my turn to ask a question now anyway. What's _your_ favorite color?"

I returned the smirk and answered snidely," I thought you said that was a lame question? Did you change your mind or something?"

"Maybe I did, so what? You have to answer anyway so just get it over with," he said a little impatiently.

"It's blue," I said, biting my lip in an attempt to stop the laughter that I felt coming on. The look on Grimmjow's face was almost comical; a mixture of surprise, pleasure, and suspicion.

"You're not fucking with me, are you?"

"No, why would I be? I honestly like blue more than any other color in the rainbow, is that really so strange?" I said in a mocking tone, smiling openly now without caring. Who knew something as simple as colors could keep us so entertained? Maybe my social skills were better than I thought they were.

"Well then, I guess that makes me your favorite person. I have blue hair, blue eyes, and a blue Ferrari. I think I beat everyone else hands down," Grimmjow said after a quick recovery, managing to add his own quip after all.

"Nice try, but until you like blue as much as I do, I think I'll pass."

"What if I were to say you made me like blue more?"

I was about to make a comeback but stopped when I realized Grimmjow was being serious. He genuinely wanted to know what I would say, and I didn't think he was messing with me anymore. But why? We had both made it pretty clear that we didn't want to push our luck and try to have anything more than a stable friendship, but evidently he had either forgotten or hadn't really meant it. And I didn't know which if the two possibilities I preferred at that point.

"You know that I would need a lot more than that," I said quietly, meeting his eyes for a brief second before averting my gaze. He really did have some beautiful eyes.

"Relax, it wasn't meant to be a serious question anyway. I was just asking for the hell of it." I hadn't noticed before, but Grimmjow was a terrible liar. His eyes, facial expression, slightly twitching lips; practically his entire face gave him away. It made me feel really bad about the whole thing.

"Now you have to ask me another question, or have you decided that you don't want to know anything else about me?"

I looked at him for a long moment, dragging my eyes along the nooks and crannies that were his handsome face. "What's your best friend's name?" I finally asked, deciding that it would be better if I just let this go. There was no point in trying to get him to elucidate about his feelings at the moment. He was too prideful to even admit that something was even bothering him in the first place.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer. He's in our class," he replied, a slightly relieved look crossing his eyes for the smallest of seconds.

"You mean that creepy emo guy that was staring at me during class?" I asked, a bit bewildered at the new piece of information. Could that have been the reason he had been staring at me so openly? Had Grimmjow told him about me?

"He was staring at you? Why does that not surprise me. Stupid bastard," he frowned in annoyance, tugging at a strand of hair as if this was greatly disturbing news for him. "Sorry about his strangeness, he's not very good at making people feel comfortable. Or at sneaking furtive glances apparently."

His last sentence made me want to laugh, and to my chagrin, a small, involuntary chuckle escaped my lips. My hand flew to my face and closed over my mouth, but it was in vain. Grimmjow had heard me and was grinning wryly at along with me.

"I guess it is kind of funny when you think about it," he said, his tone highly amused.

"Sorry, but you made Ulquiorra-san sound a little bit pathetic," I managed to say, giggling in between words and trying my hardest not to look too moronic.

"It's nice when you laugh like that. At least then I don't have to continually ask myself if you're straining to suppress your hate for me just for my sake," Grimmjow admitted, voice reluctant and... insecure?

That was definitely a first.

"Oh, uh, thanks I guess. But you shouldn't think like that Grimmjow. I'm not going to lie to you, I absolutely despised you at first, but I don't feel that way anymore. We came to understanding, and I'm not being nice to you out of concern. I actually want us to be friends. It would certainly help our situation a lot more than constantly clawing at each other's throats."

And it was true. Sure, there were plenty of quirks in his personality that I could definitely do without, but underneath all of that there was also some good in him that appealed to me.

He seemed skeptical, but finally he nodded and even offered me a small smile when we pulled up to the front of his manor. Come on, I still have to show you around here, and trust me, it's not as easy a task as it sounds."

"Well if it's size is anything like my parent's mansion than I agree with you there."

/

"Tell Aizen we're home. I'm gonna take Minori for a walk around the place and I expect all her things to be in order by the time we're finished," I said to Haschwald as I walked into the house with Minori following close behind. I hadn't really meant to sound so domineering, but for some reason the mere thought that Minori would walk into her room and find that nothing was in its proper place unnerved me.

And the fact that I even bothered to concern myself with worried thoughts like that unnerved me even more.

I was going through a lot of trouble at the moment trying to keep my goal in mind. Minori had puzzled out the reason behind my initial attitude toward her with relative ease; but she wouldn't have the same amount of luck the second time around. I had though ahead and made a plan B just in case the first one failed, and I hadn't even batted an eyelash earlier when I'd immediately moved on to it after discovering the fruitlessness of the fist plan.

If being an outright dick wouldn't work, than I was pretty sure being just the opposite would. Plan B was pretty simple: Pretend to want to get to know Minori and then make her fall in love with me only to betray her in a very traumatic way.

Just thinking about what I'd have to do made my stomach lurch.

But I had to do it. For her sake, and mine.

I had been hurt way too deeply in the past, and there was just no way I would allow something so scarring happen to me again. It was so selfish, but it was for the best. There was just too much that time couldn't erase for me; but there was a very high chance that after the initial pain Minori would be able to put everything that would happen behind her and move on with her life. Move on with a person she deserved. Somebody that wasn't so thoroughly broken that he would resort to doing something as despicable this.

There was however, a flaw to my plan. I was actually beginning to _feel_ something pulling at my heart whenever I looked at her. The whole point of this was so I wouldn't get involved with her, but everything she did, every gentle movement and facial expression she made, whittled away another piece of my determination.

"Uh, hello? Grimmjow?" Minori's voice served to rip me away from my thoughts and back into reality.

I blinked at her and put on my best apologetic expression. "I was spacing out a bit, my bad. Anyway, the main kitchen is right down this hallway, and there are four others that I'll show you some other day when we have more free time. Either way, I don't think it's all that necessary since you have a mini kitchen in your quarters."

The last bit made her raise her eyebrows in shock. "I have a kitchen in my room? Don't you think that's a little too much?" she asked. "I really don't want to be a waste of your resources." She was starting to twiddle her thumbs a little, and something told me that it was out of habit. Perhaps she did it unconsciously because it helped her clam down or something. Either way, the involuntary gesture didn't fail to cause a tugging at my lips and an irregular too-quick beat of my heart.

I tore my eyes from her hands as soon as I realized what I was going through my mind, just barely resisting the urge to shake my head out. I couldn't afford to allow my walls to come down for even a second. No, I didn't trust myself enough to loosen my guard. There was something seriously fucked up with my head if I was letting something so small and insignificant get to me.

"I think Aizen is just eager that you're finally here. He'll probably tell you this himself later, but he doesn't want you here for the sole purpose of insuring the wealth of our family. He's always wanted a daughter and frankly, I don't think he's very satisfied with the way I turned out. He's probably hoping he'll get to have a second chance at being a father or some twisted shit like that. I should probably warn you now, he's gonna spoil you so badly you're gonna wish he was the kind of person that's a dick to their in-laws."

She was smiling now, shaking her head and letting out a little sigh. "I don't understand why you two don't get along with each other. I mean, I've only been in the same room as him for like twenty minutes, and already I think he's a much better father than mine. He seems like he's really caring and would take time off of important job stuff just to hang out. He was really kind to me when we first met, but there's always tension in the room when both of you are there. I don't mean to pry though. I know that I'm not nearly acquainted enough with either of you to even have the smallest of rights to ask about anything."

Minori's chocolate brown eyes met with mine, her long eyelashes sweeping against her cheek every time she blinked. Emotional attachment aside, there was no way I could deny that she was beautiful. Or maybe there was something a little biased in my mind because I knew that I'd seen women more outwardly attractive than her, and all of them had failed to procure such a reaction from me.

Not only that, but her words were so considerate and intensely understanding of my situation that I literally was at a loss for words. Since when I had started listening to anyone on such a level? And when was the last time I'd heard anybody talk so unselfishly? Her entire demeanor reminded me of someone I had once known and loved, but for the first time since that person's death, the memories weren't painful in the least.

What. The. Hell.

"Uhm, yeah. Thanks for that. It's a rare experience for me when I come across somebody that doesn't want to know all about my past and the reasons behind everything that I do. It means a lot more to me than you would think," I said honestly.

But my words also triggered something that wasn't quite so positive in my mind. If she was really this pure-hearted than I had all the more reason to stay out of her life. The last thing she needed was my worthless ass having a highly negative impact on her for the rest of her life. And more than ever, I new she deserved so much better. I just hoped that when she finally did find someone, they would be worthy enough to be the object of her amour.

"You may not think so yet, but I definitely have my fair share of emotional baggage as well. I didn't exactly grow up in a loving home with two loving parents and a perfect life as a rich girl. But don't get me wrong, I do want to know about these things with your family and your feelings about everything. The only difference between me and everyone else is that I understand a lot of time has to pass and even more trust has to be built before we can really share with each other in that deep of a level. It's my hope that we'll become good enough friends to do that someday."

And now she was trying to remove the possibility of me thinking her to be some kind of saint. And compared to every other girl I knew, she was one. Even more so because she wasn't afraid to place her faults in the limelight for everyone to see.

It was so amazing of her, and yet it made me feel like even more of a piece of shit than ever. I was going to hurt her, and badly if I even had the balls to do what I had originally planned on in the beginning.

I was officially fucked.

/

After having gone through a large portion if the house with Grimmjow, we had eventually been called out to the dining room to have our first dinner together along with Aizen. We had been slow to start up a conversation, but we'd been able to deviate from small talk and I had been delighted to find that Aizen was very interested in all things science.

I guess this kind of classified me as a closet nerd or something, but science was one of my biggest passions and it was thrilling to find someone with the same amount of gusto for it as me. I liked to think of it as a nice bonus that my future father-in-law and I had such a wide range of things to bond over.

Grimmjow hadn't really spoken much at all except to express his less-than enthusiastic opinions on the subject of our conversation.

After starting off on the wrong foot, Grimmjow and I had really made a lot of progress with our relationship. And it turned out he could actually be nice sometimes and show some concern for me, even if it was minimalistic.

My room had only been the icing on the cake. I could tell by the way everything glowed with a polished veneer that it had been completely remodeled and surprisingly made with things that I liked. The walls were a pale blue color that I absolutely adored, and the furniture was all antique with a modernized touch, exactly how I liked it. It made me suspect that Aizen had talked to my parents about my tastes with a lot of time, considering how nice my room had turned out to be. Grimmjow hadn't been kidding when he said Aizen was excited about having a daughter.

I was sitting on my plush four-poster bed brushing out my hair when a single knock on my door alerted my attention.

"It's me," Aizen's voice carried inside the room, slightly muffled because of the wooden door.

I wondered briefly what he could be doing at my door so late before smoothing down my silk nightdress and twisting the door handle open. "Hello Aizen-san. Do you want to come inside to talk or something?" I asked politely, moving away from the entrance so he could enter.

"Well, yes, it's kind of necessary for what I'm going to show you anyway. I have a surprise for you. Consider a welcome gift of sorts," he said, a sparkle in his eye as he strode inside.

"A surprise? Oh, you really shouldn't have, I'm not worth so much attention," I said insistently, blushing a little in spite of myself. Why was he so nice to me? I really wasn't used to this kind of treatment from a father figure (or anyone else for that matter).

"Nonsense. You're my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, and it's my obligation to do things like this for you. Plus, I don't think I could've been happier about the way you turned out to be." His smile was so pleasant and genuine that I was left feeling stunned for a long moment. Aizen's attitude towards generally everyone and even just life was in such stark contrast with Grimmjow's that I couldn't fathom how he was his father.

"T-Thank you, that's so kind of you, I honestly don't know what to say."

"Come. You see this wall?" He paused in the back center if my room and placed his hand and the pale blue wall there.

I nodded and followed him to were he was standing.

"Just push on this flower and, viola." His finger pressed against one of the many painted cherry blossoms bedecking the walls around me and a loud click could be heard from where he'd pushed. To my utter shock, that very wall opened and slid to the right, revealing a hidden area within the my room.

I followed him inside on unsteady feet, and this time wasn't able to stop the gasp that escaped my lips when I laid eyes on the interior of the hidden area.

It was huge, almost as big as the rest of my room. Making up every inch of the curving walls inside was row after row of books. It was my very own personalized library, complete with a wheeled ladder for reaching the higher book cases and several comfortable-looking couches and love seats placed strategically around the room.

"Wow... Aizen-san, I can't..." I stood there with my mouth hanging open at the wonderful sight before me. I really had no word for expressing my gratitude or even shock.

"Your parents told me you had a knack for reading and studying, and it gave me the brilliant idea building this for you." Aizen raised both hands and gestured at the entirety of the room. "Judging from the look on your face you're going to tell me that I shouldn't have done this, but it was definitely my pleasure to do so. After all, I practically think of you as my daughter already. And I thought that maybe if you spent most of your time here, Grimmjow would be influenced to do the same. He could use a bit of studying and reading a book or two wouldn't hurt him either."

As he was talking, I got the sudden urge to jump up and hug him, but I didn't because that definitely would've been too much. I'd already had an inkling that Aizen had talked to my parents before I had even gotten here. But I would have never imagined that he would end up doing something like this.

It made me feel warm inside.

The feeling was quite alien to me, since my parents had never been ones to show any interest in actually building a good, solid relationship with me.

"Okay, I won't say that. But I can't deny that I am immensely grateful for this. I promise I won't make you regret that you built it Aizen-san."

He smiled his reassuring smile and took my hand, his warm brown eyes assuaging the small amount of shock that was still in my system. "Anything for my only daughter. There's just one thing I'm gonna need you to do," he said, his gaze turning amused.

"What it it?" I asked curiously, moving my head up to look at him.

"Don't call me Aizen-san anymore, it makes me feel like we're too formal. Call me Sousuke instead," he replied.

"Oh, yeah okay. Sorry about that, but I didn't want you to think I was being disrespectful or anything like that," I agreed, smiling back.

I really liked him.

"Alright then Minori, now that I've showed you this place I think I ought to let you rest. It's a school night and I don't want you to be nodding off in class tomorrow," Aizen said, clearing his throat.

Was my mind playing tricks on me or did it actually seem like he enjoyed finally being to parent someone that would listen to him?

"It is getting a but late. I'll see you tomorrow morning then Ai- Sousuke." I had almost forgotten what he said about calling him by his first name.

"Nice save. Goodnight," he said, walking out of my library with a small wave.

/

I had just started settling into my covers when another knock sounded on my door.

_Ugh, what is it now?_

I pushed my blankets off with a sigh and climbed out of bed, mumbling underneath my breath as I crossed the short distance to my door and opened it.

I had definitely _not_ expected to see Grimmjow standing there fully-clad in tight jeans and a leather jacket.

"Uh... Is there something you need?" I asked, my eyebrows creasing at him.

They creased even more when he didn't say anything at all, his taking his time to drag his eyes down my body. Was he seriously trying to check me out in my nightgown? It's not like I was showing anything so I concluded that he was either very tired and seeing things, or he had just come back drunk from a party. The latter made more sense though because unless he liked sleeping in leather jackets I saw no other reason for him to be dressed up like that.

"Interesting. I had taken you to be more of a modest person Minori. I hope you weren't in your underwear when Aizen came up here because then we could have a problem," Grimmjow said with an amused smirk, his eyes still on my lower body.

"What!"

I quickly looked down on myself and spent a horrified moment realizing that I was indeed only in a tank top and panties.

Once I recovered however, I quickly slammed the door on Grimmjow's face and raced to my closet.

Had I really been so tired that I hadn't even noticed what I was wearing? I recalled taking the nightgown off to go to sleep, but I guess in all my fatigue that fact had completely slipped my mind.

I was blushing so hard I was sure my head would explode with all the heat that was rushing to my cheeks. Why of all the people in the house had he been the one to randomly show up late at night on my doorstep?

I snatched up a pair of blue pajama shorts and donned them before shuffling back towards the door, opening it warily. I would have to have been blind to not notice Grimmjow's erratic change of attitude. He'd gone from appallingly impudent to reasonably tolerable in a matter of one day. It felt spurious when I really thought about it; but for the very reason that I didn't really know what he was like on the inside I had no viable corroborating evidence that could really prove my inkling.

But even after all of that, I knew that he would still tease me to some degree and worsen my feeling of mortification. After all, it wasn't every day that a girl was seen half-naked by her promised one.

"Finished?" he asked blandly, staring back at me with an unimpressed look on his face. "It's not very often that I get doors slammed in my face by women you know. Actually I'm pretty sure your the first."

And there it was. A quick jab at me and a chance to enlarge his ego all in one sentence. Definitely more Grimmjow-like.

"Well it's not very often that guys show up randomly knocking on my bedroom door dressed like they're going to a concert," I countered, crossing my arms in front of me and giving him an equally unimpressed glance. "What did you come here in the first place for anyway?"

He smiled then, unsullied teeth vaguely visible in the dim light coming from the back of the hallway. "Just to say goodnight. And to give you this." He revealed an arm that had been previously hiding behind his back so inconspicuously that I hadn't noticed until he moved it. Sitting on his palm was a relatively simple bracelet, brown leather bands stretched taut as they wove together in an undulating pattern. At both ends where the bracelet came together were two little wooden beads the color of Grimmjow's eyes.

"Did you make this?" I asked just as the possibility dawned on me, my eyes going wide with surprise and elation. The gesture, although small, seemed incredibly sweet, making me forget all about my mortification at being seen in my underwear.

"Yeah. The damn thing took me longer than I thought and I ended up missing the party at Yammy's house, so you really should be grateful. And see the beads at the ends? I deliberately chose blue ones 'cuz you told me it was your favorite color." He seemed quite proud of himself for making it, and I didn't blame him. It was unfathomable to think that he would have ever taken the time to actually learn how to make something like that out of his own volition.

I took it from his open hand and got a better look at it, realizing just how carefully crafted and elaborate the bracelet really was. At first glance it had seemed like the pattern it was weaved into was simple, but in reality the way Grimmjow had deftly pooled the stings together was stunning. For the second time that night another gush of warmth flooded through me, but this heat was different from the one I had felt with Aizen.

It was more... tender.

"It's beautiful," I said quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

"I wasn't about to look like more of a dick today after Aizen showed you that library and I walked around all aloof. Since it was last minute I didn't really know what else to give you, but I'm glad you liked it. It's really pathetic in comparison to your new library, but you deserve at least some kind of accommodation from me." He smiled again. "And I know you're loving the tight outfit."

I had already been smiling by that point and rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Well aren't you an exemplary picture of modesty?" I took a second to look him over once again in spite of myself.

"And you're quite the master at discretion," he smirked, taking notice of my stare.

We spent a few more minutes exchanging retorts before we became quiet, the shroud of silence between us feeling placid and tranquil for the first time.

"Thank you. It really is a nice gift. I think I'll wear it everyday from now on, and you can brag to different people about it at school."

I kept true to my promise, never taking the leather band off for the next two weeks; not even in the shower. People would ask about it and I would shrug and say it was just a gift, but in reality, I was actually beginning to get emotionally attached to it.

Somehow Grimmjow had made a habit of visiting my room before I went to bed very night. In fact, those were the times when I felt like we really bonded.

But Grimmjow wasn't the only one I was building a strong friendship with. Rukia, Orihime, and Ichigo were really starting to grow on me as well; in particular Ichigo. There was just something about his acrimonious personality that really fit well with mine.

/

"Please open up your textbooks to page sixty."

It seemed that Kyouraku-sensei, the Japanese teacher, was in a lazy mood again. No surprise there. Every time he assigned us to read from the textbook it meant he was going to doze off for the entire period.

"Well, it was about time I had a fucking break," Grimmjow said from his seat beside me slumping down in his chair and putting his feet up to rest on his desk.

"A break from what? You never do your work," I pointed out, placing my elbow onto my table and resting my head in my hand because I was feeling a bit drained myself.

He ignored me and continued to sit back in his relaxed posture, drumming his fingertips on the desk's wooden surface.

"What else would you expect from him anyway," Ichigo commented, turning his head back and looking at me with a bored expression.

"Fuck off Kurosaki, I'm not in the mood for your bitching," Grimmjow muttered irascibly, sending him a menacing scowl.

"I'm not exactly infatuated with the sound of your voice either, bastard," Ichigo retaliated, getting visibly riled as his muscles tensed in his seat.

Fortunately before things could go much further Kyouraku intervened. I was kind of surprised that he was still even awake at the time, so he earned himself a little respect from me for the first time in the two weeks I'd been at Karakura High.

"Alright, alright, this isn't a boxing ring. The school rules clearly state that there is to be no fighting within the premises, so knock it off Kurosaki and Jaegerjaquez. I have an announcement to make to the class anyway, so just sit tight."

It was a good thing neither of them had really been in the mood to argue, otherwise things wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

"You two really need to grow up," I said, looking at Ichigo in particular since he had been the one to start it this time.

"Yes, Mother," he replied sardonically, rolling his eyes at my seriousness.

"Now, I have a special assignment for you guys. I know I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I thought it'd be good if I assigned each of you to a group for a project on a classical piece of literature that I will choose." Kyouraku continued his announcement without taking notice of the talking that was going on in the back of the class, which was typical of him. He seemed to be good at tuning people out. I wondered if he could tell me his secret; it would make my life so much easier.

A chorus of groans came from all across the room. I was one of the few people that remained passive; I liked literature, and the project sounded like it would be fun. Although, it worried me because I still didn't know all the people in my class, and it would suck if I got stuck somebody I hadn't yet spoken to. Or even worse, that I got stuck with someone like Keigo as a partner.

"Since you all sound so excited I'll go ahead and read the list off now," Kyouraku said, clearly amused.

I waited patiently for my name to be read, my previous worries dissipating as the people that were practically strangers to me were grouped off. It want until Kyouraku was halfway through the class' names that he called mine.

"In group six we have Nakamura Minori."

Okay. Now there were three people left that were going to be assigned to group six. I hoped whoever they were were smart because I wasn't really known for having patience when it came to the academic area.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," I blinked,"Inoue Orihime, and Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow. You four will be assigned to reenact Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet."

The seconds took hours to pass as I observed both Ichigo's and Grimmjow's reactions to the sudden need that they would have to be in a group together, something that would require cooperation and total control over their tempers.

Which in other words, meant that we were totally fucked.

/

_I know, I took a long time to update this time, but finals haven't been kind to me and at the end of each day I've been feeling too worn out to write much. But it's done now, and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. _

_Minori and Grimmjow are actually starting to build their friendship now, and their little night visits have started to become a daily thing, so we'll see how that continues *wink*. _

_And now Grimmjow and Ichigo have been put in the same group for a Romeo and Juliet reenactment, so that ought to be fun to see as well. I think they'll probably get off on the wrong foot, but you'll be surprised how much influence Minori has over those two. _

_I want to know your thoughts on the story, so don't be shy and drop a review!_


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